Fans are in despair as the football club store closes its doors for the final time
A famous football club has closed the doors of its high street after a closing sale.
The ex-Premier League club announced last year that it would close the store and on March 6 the doors closed for the last time.
Stoke City’s store at the Potteries Centre, Hanley, is now gone after the club confirmed last year it would cease trading for “commercial reasons”.
A number of items had been reduced to less than £5 as part of a sale.
It is the latest store to leave the shopping center in recent years, along with Poundland, Superdry and Debenhams.
The store had been open since 2006.
Locals denounced the sad state of the mall.
One said: “I grew up near Hanley. It was the Go To place. Best for shopping. Good pubs and nightlife. Great nightclubs like The Place, Valentino’s, Branningans and Chicago Rock. All gone.
Another said: “People openly smoking weed, more homeless people in doorways than shoppers… I’m ashamed to call this ‘the city centre’.”
A third posted: “Whatever killed Hanley hasn’t affected other places. Telford town center has grown, there are lovely shops, cheap parking expanded and a shopping center all under one roof.”
Stoke City Chief Operating Officer Simon King previously said: “The vast majority of our retail business already takes place at the bet365 Stadium and online.
“It makes commercial sense to place our full focus on the outlets that develop in the future, albeit with flexibility for temporary pop-up ventures where there is a coherent case for doing so in the future.
“We apologize for any inconvenience caused to those who prefer to purchase their Stoke City merchandise from the city center store and hope that the combination of the stadium store and retail website will ensure that no one has to be left out.”
Another Stoke City merchandise branch, at Stoke’s bet365 stadium, remains open.
The British retail apocalypse
It comes at a time when the cost of living crisis, high inflation and rising energy costs are forcing retailers to close their outlets.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that Britain has lost 6,000 stores in five years.
Numerous The big brands have ended up in administration in the past twelve months, including major discounter Wilko.
But it has since returned to the high street under The Range’s ownership, and Wilko brand items are stocked in The Range stores.
Both M&Co And Joule are among the well-known brands that went bankrupt in 2022.
Paperchase subsequently collapsed into administration at the end of January last year and all 106 stores later closed for good.
Stores including Next, Boots, The Entertainer, Iceland, Clarks and WHSmith have also suffered.
And Argos, Next, Jack Wills and Poundland have announced they will all permanently close selected branches this year.
In the latest blow, famed cosmetics group The Body Shop has admitted it is set to close up to 200 stores in the UK as the retailer enters administration.
We’ve made a list of all the Body Shop stores at risk of closing.
British retailers saw the amount of goods sold fall last month, at the fastest pace in three years, as under-pressure households moved some of their Christmas shopping to earlier this year.
Sales volumes fell 3.2% in December, Office for National Statistics data showed, compared with a 1.4% increase a month earlier.
Several major chains are pulling down the shutters for the last time this month.
The trade association’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson OBE, blamed the closures on “crippling” business rates and the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.
The good news
Fortunately, some stores are bucking the trend and opening new locations.
Primark said it will open five new stores, and there will be one in a few weeks.
B&M will open six new locations in early 2024, also in former Wilko stores that it has taken over.
Beauty retailer Sephora is opening its third location in Manchester this year.
Another skincare and makeup icon, Avon, plans to open stores in Britain for the first time in its more than 100-year history.
Costco plans to open 14 new locations in Britain over the next two years, while Greggs will add 160 locations this year.
See the full list of shops opening on the high street in our roundup.
2