The rate of shop closures across the UK rose sharply last year, with more than 17,000 sites shutting as retailers faced economic turmoil and the rising popularity of ecommerce.
A provisional estimate by the Centre for Retail Research suggested that closures rose by almost 50 per cent, from 11,449 in 2021 to 17,145 last year.
Business insolvencies accounted for 5,509 of these and the remainder were the result of big and small chains cutting overheads in the face of rising costs brought on by an inflation rate that stood at 10.7 per cent in November, having reached a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent the previous month.
An estimated 151,474 jobs were lost across retail last year, an increase of 43 per cent on the previous year.
Big retailers shut 6,055 shops and independent businesses shut 11,090, the centre said, which equated to 47 shops closing every day.
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Joshua Bamfield, director of the centre, said: “Rather than company failure, rationalisation now seems to be the main driver for closures as retailers continue to reduce their cost base at pace.” The centre expects the trend of closures to continue this year.
Its figures came out a day after it emerged that House of Fraser had pulled out of central London with the closure of its branch in the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush. This retreat from the capital, first reported by The Mail on Sunday, leaves the group’s Croydon branch as its closest shop to the centre of the capital.
It is the latest in a series of closures by House of Fraser since it was rescued from administration in August 2018 by the retail billionaire Mike Ashley, who made his name with Sports Direct.
The chain had 59 shops when Ashley bought it for £90 million but this has since fallen to 35, including six Frasers-branded outlets. Like other retailers it has struggled with the rise of online shopping in recent years and is now bracing itself for a looming recession.
