A number of major retailers have confirmed they are closing stores by the end of this month in the latest blow for the UK high street. Argos, B&M, Clintons and Iceland have confirmed a number of their shops will close indefinitely.
The Mirror reports that Marks and Spencer, Homesense and and M&Co will also shutter sites for good in the coming weeks. Among the stores closing their doors across the UK are several shops in Scotland.
The high street has struggled over the last few years with more people choosing to shop online. In the last year, their troubles have worsened with inflation and energy bills pushing up costs for businesses, and leaving customers with less money to spend.
About 47 shops on average pulled down their shutters for the final time every day last year, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). It found a total of 17,145 shops on high streets and in other locations closed for good over 2022.
Here are all the high street shops closing sites this month.
Argos
Argos is set to close its standalone store in the the Pyramids Shopping Centre, in Birkenhead, Merseyside, on March 22. The high street chain shut its Coatbridge branch in Lanarkshire, Scotland on March 11.
Argos will close its Cardiff Bay store in July, with its Newport, Wales, branch also to shut forever in the summer. It comes as part of wider plans to move more standalone sites into Sainsbury's stores.
B&M
B&M is closing its Kilmarnock store in Queens Drive Retail Park on March 26. It comes after the bargain chain opened a larger store in Glencairn Retail Park last month.
B&M will also shut its Bristol shop in Broadwalk Shopping Centre on March 29. B&M closed its store in the Maesglas Retail Park in Newport, Wales on March 4.
However, the discount retailer is planning on opening more stores this year. B&M opened a new store in Barnsley on March 4 and it will soon take over the old Debenhams site in Scunthorpe
Iceland
Iceland is to close three sites by the end of March. Its shops in South Street, Newport, on the Isle of Wight, and in St Catherine’s Place, Bedminster, Bristol, on March 25.
Iceland will then close its store in the Deiniol Centre, Bangor, Wales on March 27. The frozen foods retailer shut its site in the White Rose Centre in Rhyl on March 14.
Clintons
Clintons Cards will close its shop in King Street, Whitehaven, on March 19. Its store on Market Street in Bolton is also set to close by the end of the month, although a specific date has not been confirmed.
Homesense
Homesense is closing its Swansea branch in March, but an exact date has yet to be confirmed. It comes after the Homesense store in the Manchester Arndale shut earlier this month.
Marks and Spencer
M&S will close its Fenchurch Street store in London on March 31. The posh supermarket announced last year that it was closing 67 of its larger shops as part of a huge overhaul of its business.
M&Co
M&Co is closing its Wick and Fort William stores on March 25. Six more sites will follow on April 1, with M&Co sites in Lewes, Gosport, Belper, Beccles, Newquay and Lerwick all to shut.
It comes after fell into administration for the second time in two years in December 2022.
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