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What retailer do you think will go bust next?

1000 replies

good96 · 12/01/2025 17:17

My money is on Poundstretcher. Went into my local one today. Shelves empty, looking old and dirty and prices aren’t really cheap for a discount retailer…

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RampantIvy · 12/01/2025 18:32

Co-Op is awful and hugely over priced . Wish it would go under

I hope you lose your job as well @Upwiththelark76 Hmm

Our local Co-op sells some really high quality food items and wines. I don't want to lose the Co-op.

It is really shitty to wish for companies go into liquidation Angry

JackJarvisEsq · 12/01/2025 18:32

I use Argos a lot I must be propping it up!

MidnightBloom · 12/01/2025 18:33

I think ciniworld, pizza hut and frankie and bennys. Oh and I can't remember it's name but the shop that sells kitchen stuff.

Edited to say Lakeland is the name.

LeeHarper5 · 12/01/2025 18:33

Hoppingabout · 12/01/2025 18:32

I think Monsoon is now online only? Same as Karen Millen.

We have a Monsoon store in my city. They share the space with Accessorize.

pictoosh · 12/01/2025 18:33

I bought a microwave oven from Argos only today. I wanted it today you see and there's a Sainsbury and Argos a few miles down the road. I hope they don't close, I find Argos handy.

Spaghettisour · 12/01/2025 18:33

BananaSpanner · 12/01/2025 17:46

Fat face.

Just been bought by Next so I don’t think it will.

mainecooncatonahottinroof · 12/01/2025 18:34

Hwi · 12/01/2025 18:09

Never thought Jaeger or Austin Reed would disappear, but they did. So my money is on LK Bennett

Jaeger is in our local M&S.

RampantIvy · 12/01/2025 18:34

I think Monsoon is now online only?

They re-opened in Meadowhall last year.

CeeJay81 · 12/01/2025 18:35

Co-op is run by its members, so don't need the same profits. Mostly convenience stores now. I'm hoping I don't lose my job just yet lol. They are indeed cutting staffing hours though a lot. Thankfully our store has nice management. I do think a lot of high street shops are in trouble tbh.

callmebuffy · 12/01/2025 18:35

HamHand · 12/01/2025 17:45

I think the White Company and White Stuff. Both send out way more emails they they used to and offer huge discounts throughout the year which sort of devalues the clothes in my eyes. White Stuff have had a few 40% off weekends. The quality just doesn’t justify the high prices they’re now charging, they’e be better off to lower it across the board then relying on so many sales to entice people to buy.

Agree with White Stuff. The range is just so random lately when it used to be pretty decent,

Think they expanded too much and should've stuck to 'posher' high streets as well.

socialdilemmawhattodo · 12/01/2025 18:35

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Not sure about that. My son is in the motor trade and Halfords do stock a lot of specialist car products that are not available elsewhere or the equivalents are a lot more.

Butterbean21 · 12/01/2025 18:35

Definitely House of Fraser. I used to love wandering around and looking at the high end clothes but I believe they have been taken over by sports direct and have applied a similar marketing strategy with everything 50% off. Most of the stock was old and dusty or bobbly and reminded me very much of the last days of Debenhams.

I would disagree with Argos. We have about 4 in the city and I can pretty much get any of their stock same day in one of them and the ability to stock check on line is excellent. We have used them a fair bit and the Habitat range is really nice. Plus nectar points is a plus.

NotGottaClue · 12/01/2025 18:35

I've always got what I needed in argos.
Never use wh smith so over priced.
The works is always busy here
My guess would be Pound stretchers too, over priced crap , clothes pegs were double the price of dunelm . Even their toiletries are over priced

CosySwan · 12/01/2025 18:35

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HellofromJohnCraven · 12/01/2025 18:36

I think coop being the only shop in many rural locations will keep it open

Gowlett · 12/01/2025 18:36

Hotel Chocolat have closed their ROI branches.
I heard it’s the same in Scotland, is that right?

Hoppingabout · 12/01/2025 18:36

LeeHarper5 · 12/01/2025 18:33

We have a Monsoon store in my city. They share the space with Accessorize.

Ah..I have just googled. They have been restructuring having been in administration and are planning on opening more shops. All the ones near me have gone.

billycat321 · 12/01/2025 18:36

I used to love mooching around Cavendish House in Cheltenham where ladies had shopped since Victorian times. Lovely smells from the Food Hall and a decent restaurant. But once it was taken over by House of Frazer it was downhill all the way. No food hall or restaurant and very expensive clothing. The same happened when H of F took over Rackhams in Cirencester. Empty for years, then let to charity groups offering second hand baby clothing and cheap hot meals. Looks like a refugee camp without the tents.

Utterknowitall · 12/01/2025 18:37

StarDolphins · 12/01/2025 17:49

Rymans, Timpsons, Claire’s, perfume shop.

Can't see Timpsons going under. They offer so many useful services and their staff are great. I don't get my shoes re-heeled but I have had visa photos done, car key batteries replaced, etc

PigletJohn · 12/01/2025 18:37

hamsandyams · 12/01/2025 18:24

I bought a lovely Harris Tweed blazer there for a bargain £100 over Christmas, and I’m in my 30s. Although I was about 40 years too young for anything else they sold.

Scarf?

The one near me closed. I have an idea they were bought up by an investment company.

Shinyandnew1 · 12/01/2025 18:37

I'm stunned WHSmiths are still going-they are so overpriced and half empty! Presumably they have some sort of contract with train stations and airports that keeps them going but who decided that-is it government supported or is it a franchise that's up for grabs? Maybe someone else will get it next time if so!

Body Shop as well. There are always more staff than people in the one near us. If you go in for a browse, they jump on you like Lush! The same beach used to have queues to get in when I was a teenager-I have no idea who shops there now. If you want to spend those sort of prices, you'll probably be buying a decent make!

Topsyturvy78 · 12/01/2025 18:38

Even ASDA is struggling so could be any from a long list. A. lot of the chain shops in our town centre have closed down there's not many left now. But we have seen more independent businesses opening which is good.

The chain shops on the retail parks are thriving though. People can't be bothered walking around town when they can just drive from shop to shop. When Boots was closing people were saying if it was on a retail park they would use it more. As a non driver I hate retail parks.

CosySwan · 12/01/2025 18:38

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Badbadbunny · 12/01/2025 18:39

tailinthejam · 12/01/2025 17:33

Boots & WH Smith would be my guesses. Although I think WHS is propped up by their monopoly presence at airports and motorway service stations.

Not this again. WHS HighSt and WHS Airports/RailStations are two separate divisions and both are profitable divisions. One half really isn't propping up the other. The High St division is in managed decline and shops are being closed piecemeal as and when they no longer meet the targets required. The rail/airport foreign side is continuing to grow.

WHS own a lot of their High St stores so they're not paying ruinous rents to landlords unlike other chains which have fallen which means their High St stores are more profitable/less loss making. They're also "managing the decline" by not spending a fortune on renovating the High St stores, hence why many of them are now starting to look shabby - again, not spending money, so they can keep them open for longer. They have also incorporated small Toys R Us outlets within many High St branches to continue to drive footfall into their shops, along with taking in many Post Office counters in towns where there's no longer a "crown" post office. High St stores are also often the "last man standing" in terms of newspapers and magazines and they're often the only "go to" place for more specialist foreign and obscure hobby/interest magazines that you can't buy in supermarkets, again, driving footfall into their stores.

Maybe in 10 years or so, their High St stores may well have all closed or radically reduced in numbers, but as I say, it's "managed" decline, so they're not trying to keep loss making stores open by propping them up with profitable high street stores, hence the long term closure/rationalisation program. That's a direct contrast to other chains like Woolworths who tried to keep all stores open, even loss making ones, which caused the entire chain to collapse.

WHS High Street aren't disappearing any time soon.

Utterknowitall · 12/01/2025 18:39

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I think it's a really handy shop/service for replacement wiper blades and replacement lamps. We also buy lots of car valeting products there and recently a pricey electric bike.

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