FANS have spotted a closing down sale at a local shoe shop – yet another outlet to shut up shop in the “ghost town”.
The Shoezone branch in Burgess Hill, West Sussex – one of 330 nationwide – was pictured with large “Closing Down Soon” banners.
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The pictures were posted on the local Facebook page Burgess Hill Uncovered.
The caption read: “Shoe Zone are not renewing their lease at Market Place Shopping Centre, therefore the store will be closing in the near future. Sorry to hear this for the staff.
“How long do you think it’ll take the agent to fill the unit (if at all!) and what would you like to see come into the centre in its place?”
The post was met with a flurry of 162 comments, with many locals complaining about the number of recent closures in the area.
One wrote: “What a surprise, another one going… just keeps getting worse and worse…”
Another added: “It’s shocking the town is ruined.”
A third commented: “Everything is going to closed in burgess hill it looks like a ghost town.”
One commenter simply pasted the lyrics of the Queen song Another One Bites The Dust.
Others noted that there will be a scarcity of shoe shops in the area following the closure, which is set to take place in March.
One wrote: “Nowhere now in BH to buy a pair of shoes.”
Another said: “That’s really sad… And there isn’t one nearby either…. Probably Crawley will be the nearest one now.”
The news comes following a series of Shoezone closures over the last two years.
The high street chain closed 13 branches last year – including another in Sussex.
This year, it has closed its Watford branch and announced several other closures – including in Stoke-on-Trent and Inverness, Scotland.
High streets across the UK have suffered from decline over the past decade.
Since 2018, 6,000 retail outlets have brought down the shutters, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The trade association’s chief executive Helen Dickinson OBE blamed the closures on “crippling” business rates and the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included Paperchase, Cath Kidston, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
