Hobbycraft to close NINE shops today as part of huge restructuring plan – is your local going
SHOPPERS are running out of time to pick up craft and art essentials from selected stores as a high street chain axes nine outlets.
Hobbycraft is closing shops in towns including Bristol, Dunstable, Borehamwood and Basildon today.
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The high street favourite is also closing two sites in Essex, one in Gloucestershire, plus another in Kent.
The stores closing their doors makeup at least nine Hobbycraft stores that have been earmarked for closure this year.
Local customers have been disappointed by the news.
Bristol residents describing it as a "shame" on social media.
The local store is sure to be missed as another customer said they needed to find another "rainy day activity" referencing the store's numerous crafting goods.
Talking about the closure, a Kent-based shopper said: "Oh noooooo it's the only one I go to regularly as the rest are too far away!".
Another resident said they would "need therapy" following news of the closure.
Closing down sales have been ongoing across the stores, with up to 70% off some items.
Here is the full list of stores shutting
Canterbury, Kent
Basildon, Essex
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
Bristol, Imperial Retail Park
Dunstable, Bedfordshire
Epping Forest, Essex
Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Bagshot, Surrey
I transformed my boring, old fence using an electric stapler and bargain buys from Hobbycraft and Amazon
The closures come as new owner Modella Capital is launching an overhaul of the chain after buying Hobbycraft in August last year.
Modella also recently agreed to purchase WHSmith's high street business.
The move is set to impact between 72 and 126 jobs.
Retail woe
Hobbycraft is not the only retailer scaling down operations.
Up to 11 Original Factory Shops stores are to set to close this month, including sites across Worcestershire, Durham and Cumbria.
And another five stores across Nairn, Market Drayton, Troon, Blairgowrie and Castle Douglas have been put up for sale.
Private equity firm Modella bought The Original Factory Shop back in February and has since launched a restructuring effort to renegotiate rents at 88 TOFS stores.
You can see the full list of store closures here:
The following stores are also up for sale:
Nairn
Market Drayton
Troon
Blairgowrie
Castle Douglas
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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