A MAJOR charity shop chain has revealed it will shut down another store ahead of 47 more closing for good.
Its in Kendal is due to close later this year, after its branch in neighbouring Workington closed earlier this year.
That leaves just one Scope branch in in Windermere, which will remain open.
The news has come as a blow to locals, who moaned: “It says something when the shops are failing.”
While another shopper cried: “Another closed shop on our main street, such a shame.”
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at equality charity Scope, said: “Our charity shop in Windermere remains profitable and will continue to trade.
“We’re very sad to confirm, our charity shop in Kendal will be closing, with the date is to be confirmed. ”
She added: “Our Workington charity shop closed in March 2025. We’ve had such incredible support from the wonderful and generous communities. We never take the decision to close our stores lightly.“
Scope, a disability charity in and , warned back in January that it could close a number of its 138 stores.
At the time, the on high streets and spiralling costs.
Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said external factors had “made trading harder”;.
The chain has faced rising rents, soaringcosts, increased staff costs and thesqueezing customers.
It comes as the charity has already closed four locations this month across Newport, Southampton, Atherstone and Welling.
Five stores will also be closing down in May, with theyet to be revealed.
This is on top of 18 closures made in March, which are listed below:
- Amersham
- Barking
- Bangor
- Birkenhead
- Bishop Auckland
- Castleford
- Devizes
- Dewsbury
- Eastbourne
- Haywards Heath
- Lewisham
- New Milton
- Orpington
- Parkstone
- Scunthorpe
- Shirley (Southampton)
- Skipton
- Workington
These are the six shops that closed during the consultation period:
- Bexhill
- Hertford
- Mitcham
- Petersfield
- Scarborough
- Worthing
TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET
Plenty of other discount and charity shops are struggling as shoppers have less cash to part with at the till.
In March, Poundland‘s parent company, Pepco, enlisted advisory firm Teneo to oversee the potential sale of its UK .
The decision followed Pepco's announcement that it is exploring “all strategic options” to .
The Polish-based group had hinted that it may shift its focus towards its more profitable operations across.
It is gearing up to close a handful of stores this
The Centre for Research's latest analysis suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut for good in 2024.
Of those, 11,341 were independent shops while 2,138 were shut by larger retailers.
The data also showed over half the stores that closed last year were shut due to the store or retailer going through insolvency proceedings.
This is when formal measures are taken to deal with tackling a business's debt.
