Full list of high street closures this month including Boots, HMV and Peacocks

16 January 2024 , 11:59

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A handful of high street retailers are closing stores this month (Image: Getty Images)

A handful of major high street favourites will be closing some of their brick and mortar stores this month.

This month's closures follow on from a turbulent 2023 for the UK high street which saw Wilko enter administration and Boots reveal it would be closing 300 stores over the next year. Some of the stores set to close for good this month include Boots, HMV, Peacocks, and Sports Direct.

The last few years have been hard on the high street and the current cost of living crisis is making trading through physical stores even harder as households tighten their financial belts even further. One X user - formerly Twitter - shared a video on the site last week which showed the deserted high street of Waterlooville in Hampshire. The video showed the empty high street with the majority of shops boarded up. The X user described the scene as one from a "zombie film".

Chains have confirmed that some of its closures were due to dwindling sales however others were simply business decisions. Here we have rounded up all of the shops set to pull down the shutters this month.

Are retailers closing in your local area? - Let us know: [email protected]

Boots annual 70% off sale is returning with some deals already available

Boots

The health and beauty retailer announced in June 2023 it was planning to close hundreds of stores reducing the number of shops from 2,200 to 1,900 over 12 months. This month will see four more Boots stores shut - with a potential fifth - and these include:

• Bryn, Manchester - January 13
• Lothian, Scotland - January 13
• Cliftonville, Kent - January 20
• Pemberton, Wigan - January 26
• Hough Lane, Layland, Lancashire -January (date TBC)

Sports Direct

The Sports Direct site in Orbital Shopping Park in Swindon has been earmarked for closure this month. Signs were placed throughout the store in December informing customers of the closure and advertising 20% off everything that is full price. An official closure date has yet to be confirmed by Sports Direct.

Co-op

The Supermarket chain Co-op is pulling down the shutters on its branch in Peacehaven, East Sussex, on January 20. Signs were placed in the store, which is based in Meridian Shopping Centre, informing customers of the closure. The closest Co-op branch after the closure this week will be the Peacehaven branch on South Coast Road.

Trespass

The British outdoor brand Trespass, which specialises in skiwear, waterproof jackets, fleeces, festival accessories, walking boots and camping gear, will shut one of its stores on January 28, in Blackburn, East Lancashire. The site, based in the Mall Blackburn, put up signs last year informing customers of the upcoming closure. Trespass has around 230 stores across the UK and over 300 worldwide.

The Entertainer

The children's toy chain will close three locations this month but exact dates have yet to be confirmed by the retailer. Entertainer sites set for closure are in the Galleries shopping centre in Bristol, on the High Street in Cheltenham and in Bishops Weald House in Horsham.

Clintons Cards

Clinton Cards announced a whole raft of closures last year in a bid to avoid total collapse. One-fifth of the retailer's branches were earmarked for closure - 38 out of 179 stores. One store to close this month is the card retailer's Haverhill branch in Suffolk which will be shutting its doors for good on January 24.

Peacocks

Fashion retailer Peacocks will shut a store in the arc shopping centre in Bury St Edmunds this month on Thursday, January 25. Signs were placed in the window earlier this month. After the closure, the nearest Peacocks store was in North Street, Sudbury.

HMV

Entertainment and music retailer HMV is closing its branch in Boston, Lincolnshire, on January 27 due to "changing shopping habits". A spokesperson for the retailer blamed "shifting consumer behaviours" and a lack of investment in the Lincolnshire town's retail district according to local reports. Posting on social media the HMV store, which is based in the Pescod Square Shopping Centre, thanked its customers for their "loyal support" over the last five years.

Ruby Flanagan