Britain’s high streets will see another familiar retailer vanish from many towns and cities in a matter of weeks, with Select Fashion shutting up shop at 35 locations up and down the country.
Select Fashion, which is owned by the Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroğlu, has been reducing its physical retail offering since January. These dozens of closures are three times the initial number of stores originally earmarked for closure by the clothing retailer, amid worrying economic conditions for retailers with rising employment costs and the continued reduction of footfall in physical stores.
With 35 of its stores closing by mid-March, the affordable fashion brand has downsized its physical presence in the UK by half, according to the Mail. This fresh downturn means shoppers from the south west to the north east of England will no longer see the retailer in their town and city centres – which once occupied 169 stores on Britain’s high streets.
Initially, 12 stores were facing the axe, in locations like Southshields, Peterlee, Thornaby, Hartlepool Scarborough Hull Hessle Hull, St Stephens, Ashington and Scunthorpe. But now cities like Bristol will lose two key stores from shopping centres as the faltering retailer attempts to shore up its position.
Select Fashion has struggled in recent years, announcing that it was entering administration in 2019 while blaming difficult trading conditions. In the years since and following a buyout, the chain has since failed to keep its head above water, entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement last summer to restructure its debts.
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It is not the only fashion retailer to have recently resorted to this debt negotiation, with New Look, Caffe Nero, Body Shop, and Jigsaw all entering into CVAs. At the same time, familiar brands like Ted Baker have also been forced to reduce their offerings to consumers by pulling out of their physical stores, while the UK continues to struggle with close to 0 per cent growth and the cost of living crisis.
The full list of locations where Select Fashion stores are closing:
- Accrington
- Ashington
- Ashton-under-Lyne
- Birkenhead
- Bletchley
- Bristol Broadmead
- Bristol Broadwalk Shopping Centre
- Chippenham
- Coalville
- Cowley
- Crewe
- Eastleigh
- Hartlepool
- Hatfield
- Hemel Hampstead
- Hull Hessle
- Hull St Stephen’s
- Kidderminster
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Middlesbrough
- Newport
- Peterlee
- Port Talbot
- Preston
- Runcorn
- Scarborough
- Scunthorpe
- South Shields
- Southampton
- Thornby
- Torquay
- Wellingborough
- Witham
- Wolverhampton
- Worksop