Major shoe retailer with more than 300 UK stores to close seaside shop

SHOPPERS have been left devastated as another Shoe Zone store is set to close for good.

The discount footwear chain will be shutting its doors in Bexhill town centre.

The store, located on Devonshire Road, has confirmed it's final day of trading will be May 13.

It comes as part of a wider trend of high street closures, with Shoe Zone blaming “challenging trading conditions” and rising costs for its decision to shut unviable branches.

Locals say the closure is another blow for the town's high street, with one shopper commenting on Facebook: “Bexhill is turning into a ghost town.”

Another added: “soon we'll have nothing left.”

While a third chimed in: “Yep, its sad, walked past yesterday lunchtime and closing down sale was all over the window and inside as well.”

The shop has been advertising its closure since November, and commercial property agents Dyer & Hobbis are already listing the site for rent at £29,500 per year.

A spokesperson for Shoe Zone previously said a combination of rising business rates, wage increases, and difficult weather conditions had made some stores “unviable”.

The company saw profits before tax slump by 40 per cent in 2023, with chairman Charles Smith blaming an “unseasonably wet summer” and increased costs.

Shoe Zone has already closed a string of stores across the UK, including recent shutdowns in Boscombe, Bournemouth and Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

Last year, Shoe Zone also shut branches in Watford, Stoke-on-Trent, and Inverness.

Despite the closures, the retailer is still refitting and relocating stores, with new sites having opened in places like Maidstone and Bristol.

TROUBLE ON THE HIGH STREET

Soaring inflation in recent years has also dented shoppers' pockets.

The Centre for Retail 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.

Retailers are also shutting stores in 2025.

New Look is ramping up a store closure programme ahead of April's National Insurance hike.

Approximately a quarter of the retailer's 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.

This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on its 8,000-strong workforce.

The company has restructured its store estate twice in the past six years, reducing its portfolio from around 600 UK stores in 2018.

It also closed all of its 26 stores across Ireland, marking the end of a two decade tenure in the country.

But there could be some good news for the high street.

Earlier today, a it was confirmed that a mystery company will save 48 Select Fashion stores.