AN iconic outdoor clothing company with 300 stores nationwide is closing another branch.
Customers have been rushing to the doomed shop to load up on adventure gear after a huge closing-down sale was launched.
However, today is the last day of trading Tresspass at Highcross shopping centre in Leicester.
It will close its doors for the final time on March 31.
The Leciester location slashed 60 percent off selected stock with yellow and black signs reading “everything must go” posted in the window.
The reason for the closure remains unknown, however, this hasn't stoppedlocals from speculating.
Some wondered whether it may be aLeicesterissue while others said the store has been on the way out for years.
“They've been having closing down sales for at least 10 years,” one Leicester local said.
“Far longer than 10 years, I would wager all of their shops have been having closing down sales since they were founded in 1981,” argued another person.
The outdoor retailer previously announced the closure of six UK outlets, including branches inNorwichandSutton Coldfieldin 2023.
In January, Trespass confirmed another closure with its Middlesbrough branch shutting up shop.
The shock move came just two years after the store opened, with many people believing it to be a one-off closure.
Confusion was sparked after the retailer announced the closure of several branches – however many still remain open.
Itrelocated the Norwich storefrom Chantry Place to the Castle Quarter, re-opening in November 2024.
The Workington location also moved to another town centre unit after initially announcing a permanent closure in 2023.
Stores closesites for a variety of reasons including when a particular branch is not performing or that a lease is coming to an end.
The UK retail industry has been struggling and it doesn't look like it's going to be getting better any time soon.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
Highenergycosts and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
