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HIGH STREETBLOW
Major high street name vanishes today and more closures could follow
- Nawal Abdisamad
A POPULAR high street name is shutting its doors for good in Oxford today.
HMV on Cornmarket Street is closing after its landlord refused to renew the lease, leaving loyal customers devastated.
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The iconic music and entertainment store, a staple of Oxford's city centre for 30 years, confirmed the closure is happening today.
The shop, based inside the Clarendon Centre, has been hit by the site's major redevelopment, which isn't due to finish until 2029.
Bosses at HMV said they had "no intention to stop serving our loyal customers in Oxford" and are actively looking for a new location nearby.
They urged landlords and agents with available units to get in touch as soon as possible.
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Shoppers have been left heartbroken by the news.
One fan said: "Oxford is becoming a shell of its former self."
Another simply called the closure "gutting," while others shared memories of browsing CDs, vinyl and merchandise over the years.
Staff at the store have now been told they are at risk of redundancy, adding to the wave of high street job losses across the country.
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HMV has battled hard to survive in recent years.
The retailer first collapsed into administration in 2013, leading to widespread store closures.
It was rescued but fell into administration again in 2018, before being bought by Canadian firm Sunrise Records in early 2019.
Since then, HMV has rebuilt its footprint and now operates more than 100 stores across the UK.
However, rising costs and business rate changes have forced the chain to pause further UK expansion for now, instead focusing on new openings in Ireland and Belgium.
Despite the Oxford closure, HMV is still showing signs of life, making a triumphant return to its famous Oxford Street flagship in London last year, four years after its previous closure there.
HMV's closure is just the latest blow to Britain's struggling shopping streets.
Beales, one of the UK's oldest department stores, is shutting its final shop in Poole after more than 140 years.
The company has launched a huge closing down sale with up to 70 per cent off fashion, gifts and furniture.
Meanwhile, New Look is in the process of shutting around 100 shops across the UK, blaming rising costs and changing shopping habits.
Stores in Gateshead, Cornwall and Wales have already launched closing sales.
London isn't being spared either, as gift shop favourite Huttons will close its Putney Exchange store due to soaring energy bills.
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Despite the closure in Oxford, HMV is still pressing ahead with expansion plans elsewhere.
The brand, which bounced back from administration four years ago, is preparing to move back into its famous Oxford Street Flagship store in London.
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, withworse set to come in 2025."
It comes after almost 170,000retailworkers lost theirjobsin 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 asHomebaseandTed 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 theCOVID-19pandemic, 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,Carpetrightand 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."
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