Major charity retailer with dozens of stores to shut branch in DAYS following Government tax raid
A MAJOR charity retailer with dozens of branches is shutting a store in days following a Government tax raid.
The “low profit-making” shop will shut on April 12 with workers being offered roles elsewhere in the business.
St Peter’s Hospice said it is closing the location in Lodge Causeway, Bristol, “largely due to the significant increases in National Living Wage and National Insurance“.
The National Living Wage rose to £12.21 on April 1 with employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) rising tomorrow, piling pressure on retailers.
It is understood the closure is not part of a wider set of closures across the charity‘s retail store estate.
John Broomhead, retail director for St Peter’s Hospice, said: “We understand that there is a lot of worry and disappointment around our decision to close the Lodge Causeway store.
“This decision was not taken lightly. Unfortunately, the store has become a low profit-making shop.”
He added: “Our volunteers at this store have also been notified and we thank them for their service and hope they’ll be open to supporting us in one of our other stores.
“As a charity we need to ensure that our retail stores are operating at a profit, so that we continue to raise as much money as possible for patient care.”
The next nearest St Peter’s Hospice branches from Lodge Causeway are in Kingswood and Fishponds, both on the outskirts of Bristol.
In any case, shoppers have been left devastated after finding out the store will shut permanently in a matter of days.
Posting on Facebook, one said: “Sad news..it will be missed.”
Another commented: “What a pity!!”
Meanwhile, a third simply said: “No way.”
St Peter’s Hospice raises money for people suffering from progressive and life-limiting illnesses.
Around 20% of its services are funded by the NHS while the rest is raised through its charity shops and fundraising events.
The charity currently operates 45 retail stores in and around Bristol.
OTHER CHARITY STORE CLOSURES
The high street has struggled in recent years as the trend towards online shopping continues.
Higher inflation in recent years has dented wallets and purses, meaning consumers have less disposable cash too.
Meanwhile, the number of banks, chemists and pubs on the high street continues to decline, driving down overall footfall.
Higher energy and wage bills have also stunted independent and larger retailers.
Scope recently announced plans to 39 stores by March 31, with a further 31 earmarked to shut between April this year and March 2026.
The charity, which has shops in England and Wales, announced in January it would likely close 138 of its stores.
Bosses said the chain had struggled with declining footfall and spiralling costs, including higher rents, energy bills and staff costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said at the time: “As a result, and to ensure our funds are best focused upon our charitable purpose, we have let our teams know that we will be putting forward proposals to close some of our shops, in stages, over the next 18 months.”
The Centre for Retail Research is warning the upcoming hike to employer NICs and the rise in the national minimum wage will lead to around 17,350 shops closing in 2025.
It said more than 13,000 shut for good in 2024, with over 11,000 of these independents.
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.”
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