Store closures in full as 2 major retailers to shut within weeks

The UK’s high street is facing another wave of permanent closures as retailers struggle with rising operating costs and the ongoing shift to online shopping. As the critical festive shopping season approaches, several major chains are set to close locations for good in the final week of October and the first half of November. Poundland and other popular retailers are anticipated to be among the casualties.

The Centre for Retail Research has estimated a record 17,349 shop closures are forecast for 2025, underscoring the severe difficulties facing the sector. Professor Joshua Bamfield, Director of the Centre for Retail Research, has previously commented on the wider context: “The problems of changed customer shopping habits, inflation, rising energy costs, rents and business rates have continued and forced many retailers to cut back even more strongly in 2025.” Express.co.uk has compiled a list of all the store closures in the coming weeks.

Poundland

The budget retailer will bid farewell to a popular store in a retail park today, Saturday, October 25. An expired lease on the site at Cherry Tree Retail Park in Blackpool has been credited to the closure.

It is also thought to be closing as part of a wider restructuring and recovery plan from Poundland.

Shoppers elsewhere in Deal (Kent) and Thurrock will also lose their local Poundland store before the end of the month. The two locations have been marked for closure on Monday, October 27, coinciding with the end of the unit leases.

October 29 marks the closing date of Poundland in Walsall. The store in St Matthew’s Quarter is closing due to its lease expiring, but the company has confirmed its second town centre store will remain open.

Darren MacDonald, Poundland’s retail director, said: “We know how disappointing it is when we leave a store… we’re determined to say goodbye by offering even more amazing value to customers.”

However, store closures aren’t letting up any time soon for Poundland, with a Matlock store seeing out its final days of trade before closing on November 2.

The Matlock site is part of the 18 additional closures announced in October and November as part of the company’s cost-saving plan.

On November 9, two further Poundland closures will take place: one in Carlisle (St. Nicholas Gate Retail Park) and another in Burnley (Princess Way Retail Park).

Both sites were earmarked for closure following lease review, with the Burnley site offering an “extensive clearance sale” to empty the premises.

A Poundland branch in Witham is one of the final closures in this wave, part of the retailer’s aggressive strategy to reduce its store count by over 100 locations. It is followed by the closure of the Sidcup store on November 14, according to the local Business Improvement District.

The Sidcup store’s impending closure has been particularly linked to “high levels of shoplifting” in addition to the challenging trading conditions faced by the high street.

Trespass

Shoppers who frequent the Trespass store in Watford’s Harlequin Shopping Centre only have a few days left to visit the site. It is due to close on October 31, as part of a commercial decision by the outdoor clothing retailer.

A major “everything must go” clearance sale is underway to empty the unit.

The latest round of closures across both retail and banking sectors reflects what industry analysts are calling a “great retail reset.” The closures from discount retailer Poundland, in particular, underscore that even value-focused chains are struggling.

Professor Joshua Bamfield, Director of the Centre for Retail Research, warned earlier this year: “Whilst the results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”