A family-run toy and cycle shop loved by generations is to close down after 160 years. More than 13,000 stores shut their doors last year, according to the Centre for Retail Research, which believes 2025 will be even worse, with 17,349 closures predicted.

The latest to fall victim to the ever-decreasing high street is B D Price, which has been selling bicycles and toys in the village of Sedley, near Dudley, since 1865.   Boarded-up windows alongside ‘everything must go' and 'closing down sale' signs have become prominent features along high streets across the UK, and there is no sign of this slowing down. In January, February and March, scores of shops shut their doors, from Select Fashion to New Look and WH Smith. 

B D Price's closure comes as the store’s current owner, Dan Price, plans to retire at age 84 and is unable to sell the business on. This is due to a combination of things including a decline in traditional toys and rising overheads.

While the immediate cause is retirement, Dan warns that it is a sign of dark times ahead. 

Admitting that he is “relieved to finally be retiring” Dan says online sales has kept the business afloat in recent years. 

He said: “We’re closing due to a combination of ages and a lack of trade, as footfall has decreased, and overheads have increased. People are just hard-up at the moment.

“We don’t sell board games any more, either, people don’t play them, it is all click, click on the computer games.

“The majority of our customers today are older people who collect the toys and models that they had as kids for nostalgic purposes.

"It's sad, but I'm quite relieved to finally be retiring.”

The business dates back to 1865 when Dan's great-grandfather D J Price and his wife opened a cycle shop from the front of their terraced house in High Holborn, Sedgley.

No exact date for closure has been decided as of yet. 

WHSmith, Beaverbrooks, Sports Direct, FarmFoods, Refill, and Aldi are among the brands closing stores in April.