A LEGENDARY high street retailer is closing another on of its sites in a huge blow to the local community.
The chain boasts 120 stores across the UK but has faced down two administration periods in recent years, surviving both.
The iconic high street chain has shut up shop in dozens of locations over the past few years[/caption]
An in-store notice thanked customers for their business and encouraged them to use the online store finder tool[/caption]
HMV in Guildford posted an in-store notice warning customers that the shop will be pulling down its shutters for the last time on October 29.
The store is housed in a town centre shopping centre, known as the Friary.
A poster, put up behind the tills of the shop, reads: “We’re sad to say our store will be closing on Wednesday 29 October.
“Thank you for shopping with us, the HMV Guildford team.”
It also offers advice for shoppers keen to keep buying from the retailer.
The notice encourages locals to visit the online HMV store finder tool to find the nearest site.
Locals have been disappointed at the loss of another high street staple with dozens lamenting the closure on social media.
Thankfully, the HMV site in Woking, a mere 7 miles away is still serving customers.
The Guildford closure is the latest in a long line of HMV store closures across the UK.
The retailer has been shutting up shops up and down the country as They struggle to keep afloat.
Just months ago a site in Oxford closing down followed weeks later by a store in Lancaster.
The Lancaster location, in Nicholas Arcades, had been open for 25 years but tragically the building’s landlord decided not to renew its lease.
In a statement bosses said: “HMV first traded in Lancaster over 25 years ago, and whilst we hoped that the landlord’s redevelopment plans would have allowed us to keep trading, this was unfortunately not possible.
“As we have no intention to stop serving our loyal customers in Lancaster, we are actively looking for a new unit to restart trading as soon as possible and would encourage landlords and agents in Lancaster to get in touch with new potential sites.
“The current last day of trade will be Sunday August 10. Nearby HMV stores in Blackpool and Preston will remain open.”
The Lancaster site sadly shut its doors for the last time on August 10.
The Sun has contacted HMV for comment.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
