Big high street chain with 825 stores to shut branch for good in WEEKS

A BIG high street chain with 825 stores will shut a branch for good in a matter of weeks. Poundland is preparing to shut its branch in the Belle Valle shopping centre, Liverpool, in a blow to locals. Upset shoppers have taken to social media to blast the decision, with many blaming "greedy landlords".

Another said that there would be " hardly anything" in the shopping centre. While a third added: "It is wrong that some of the workers there have been loyal workers for years." Poundland has confirmed to The Sun that it will close its branch in the shopping centre on May 6.



read more on money A spokesperson said the decision came after it was served notice on the lease. They added: "We know how disappointing this will be to customers and colleagues. "Whenever we have to close a store in these circumstances, we do all we can to look for other opportunities for colleagues and that work is now underway.

" "We’d like to thank customers at Belle Vale for their support – and look forward to welcoming them at our other stores across Merseyside." Most read in Money It is not the only retailer Liverpool residents have had to say goodbye to. Harvey Nichols is pulling down the shutters on its three-floor Beauty Bazaar in Liverpool .

It is understood the shop, inside the Liverpool ONE complex, will close in mid-April. Today's news comes amid a tough period for Poundland. Just last month, it was forced to close a branch in Belfast after the Connswater Shopping Centre was put into receivership.

The shop closed at the end of March, with a major clothing down sale launched. WHAT IS GOING ON AT POUNDLAND Last month, its parent company Pepco is said to have hired advisory firm Teneo to oversee the sale of the UK business. It comes after Pepco said it was looking at "all strategic options" to separate Poundland from its brand.

The Polish group said it might turn its focus to its more profitable businesses in Europe . Pepco previously warned that upcoming hikes to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage would significantly add to its costs. Late last year, it was revealed that profits at Poundland also tumbled by £641million in the year to September, with bosses again blaming slow sales amid a poor outlook thanks to measures set out by Reeves A spokesperson also said the huge loss was "due to a non-cash impairment at Poundland that relates to the acquisition of the UK chain in 2016".

Read More on The Sun This means the value of the business has decreased because of an expectation that future cash flows will fall. More recently, Poundland also saw revenue fall by 9.3% for the three months to December.

The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.

A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. 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." Professor Bamfield has also 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.".