Experts reveal 28% surge in shop closures last year – with “worse to come” in 2025 off the back of cost hikes for retailers
Nearly 13,000 high street stores closed in 2024, as experts warned worse to come this year.
Figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed store closures jumped by more than a quarter last year. And it predicted more will shut this year as national insurance contribution increases and higher wages announced in the last Budget take their toll.
The analysis found that 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut their doors for good in 2024 – a 28% surge on 2023. The provisional data showed the vast majority of closures were small independent retailers, which have seen Covid-era financial support cut back.
More than 11,300 independent stores shut during the year, a 45.5% jump against the previous year. Meanwhile, 2,138 stores were shut by larger chains over the year. The data also showed that more than half of all stores that closed – 7,537 in total – were due to retailers undergoing some form of insolvency proceedings.
Major chains including Ted Baker, Homebase and Carpetright shut stores after entering insolvency during the year. A further 5,942 shops were closed through “rationalisation” as part of cost cutting programmes. Retailers including Boots and Shoe Zone cut their store numbers during the year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said: “Whilst 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.”
Expects store closures to rise to about 17,350 during 2025, with about 14,660 coming from independent retailers. This is expected to be linked by a rise in national insurance contributions and the increase in the national minimum wage, which were announced in the October Budget and will be take effect in April. Small retailers will also face a significant impact from changes to the current discount to business rates taxes for firms in the sector.
Commercial real estate firm Altus Group said the cut in the business rates discount from 75% to 40% in April will see the average shop’s rates bill spiral from £3,589 to £8,613 a year. Alex Probyn, president of property tax at Altus, said it was “foolhardy” to scale back the targeted relief after a tough year for the sector. He added: “Despite Labour’s manifesto recognition of the undue burden business rates place on our high streets, that burden will be significantly increased.”
