Huge closing down sales launched at nine Hobbycraft stores shutting in DAYS as part of huge restructuring ...Middle East

HUGE closing down sales have been launched at nine Hobbycraft stores across the UK.

The stores are set to close this Saturday, June 21, with the retailers looking to shift as much stock as possible before they shutter for good.

Shoppers have a chance to grab arts and storage supplies that have been slashed in price by up to 70%.

Sites across Bristol, Dunstable, Borehamwood and Basildon are all set to close on June 21.

A further two sites in Essex and stores across Gloucestershire and Kent are set to shut on this date.

News has come as a blow to locals, including one Essex local who said “Why are all the good shops going?”

Another said the store would be missed and they needed to find another “rainy-day activity”.

Modella Capital bought the arts and craft supplier last August and launched a major overhaul of the business..

The retail investor bought WHSmith earlier this year and also acquired The Original Factory Shop.

At the time, bosses said the shake up would help secure the future of 99 stores and around 1,800 jobs.

You can check out the full list of stores earmarked for closure below.

The upcoming closures are set to impact around 72 and 126 jobs.

Hobbycraft is not the only retailer reducing its store estate.

Up to 11 Original Factory Shops stores are to set to close this month, including sites across Worcestershire, Durham and Cumbria.

Meanwhile, another five stores across Nairn, Market Drayton, Troon, Blairgowrie and Castle Douglas have been put up for sale.

It comes as part of a major restructuring also carried out by new owner Modella Capital with a number of loss-making stores having to close as result.

MORE RETAIL CLOSURES

Poundland will close up to 68 stores following its £1 sale to US investors Gordon Brothers.

As part of the move, its frozen and digital distribution site at Darton, South Yorks, will close this year.

Another warehouse at Springvale in Bilston, West Mids, will also shut in early 2026.

Around 1,000 shop staff and 350 warehouse workers in the UK will be affected by the restructure, but none in Ireland.

Since last March, the budget chain has closed 14 stores, with another three set to shutter in the coming weeks.

RETAIL PAIN IN 2025

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.

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.”

Professor Bamfield has also 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.”

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