RIVER Island has launched a closing down sale at a popular London shopping centre.
The troubled fashion brand will close its site in Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth, London.
River Island is set to close another branch[/caption]
The branch has launched a 30% off closing down sale to help shift stock before it shutters for good.
It will come as a blow to locals who in the past described the store as “great” and always stocking the “latest lines and styles.”
While another said: “Every time I come to this store I always have a good experience.
“Staff is so friendly and helpful. It makes a difference.”
It is one of around a dozen River Island stores in the capital, two of which have already been marked for closure by the chain.
The British fashion brand previously said it would shut 33 stores in January as part of a major restructuring plan to keep the chain afloat.
Bosses at the high street chain previously blamed a rise in online shopping for piling pressure on the business.
The chain posted a £32.3million pre-tax loss last year and revealed turnover had slumped 15% to £578.1million.
River Island is also pleading with the landlords of 71 stores for rent reductions.
This is an agreement between the tenant and the landlord to help reduce the amount of rent due, usually in a period of financial hardship.
Its branch in Wandsworth was one of these 71 stores, but now ultimately faces closure.
The chain will close in January alongside the other 33 stores.
The chain is also due to close a branch in Edinburgh on Friday, September 5.
This is the full list of 33 stores that will shut:
- Beckton
- Bangor Bloomfield
- Wrexham
- Edinburgh Princes Street
- Hereford
- Surrey Quays
- Didcot
- Sutton Coldfield
- Aylesbury
- Burton-Upon-Trent
- Northwich
- Taunton
- Workington
- Falkirk
- Cumbernauld
- Kirkcaldy
- Gloucester
- Hartlepool
- Brighton
- Lisburn
- Norwich
- Oxford
- Poole
- Kilmarnock
- Hanley
- Barnstaple
- Grimsby
- Leeds Birstall Park
- Rochdale
- Great Yarmouth
- St Helens
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Perth
- Wandsworth
Trouble on the high street
It comes amid a challenging time for retail with many chains battling low consumer spending alongside rising costs.
The owners of New Look are understood to be calls with advisers to carry out a strategic review of the fashion chain which could result in a sale.
So far this year, the chain has closed a dozen sites, including locations across Scotland and Wales.
In February, New Look also exited the Republic of Ireland which resulted in the closure of 26 stores.
Last month, Claire’s also collapsed into administration and stopped online orders for its customers.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
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.”