A MUCH-LOVED children’s shoe store has announced it will be closing its doors for the last time.
Elves & the Shoemaker in Canterbury, Kent, said it had become “another casualty of the failing high street” after experiencing a lack of footfall.
The shop will shut within a couple of weeks[/caption]
The shop has sold children‘s shoes, toys and accessories on the local high street for years.
It declared the heartbreaking news on Facebook, saying it would be forced to shut in the next couple of weeks.
“It is with great sadness that I am announcing this but the time has come. Elves & the Shoemaker is closing,” the store’s owner wrote.
“We’ve all seen lots of businesses closing for a while and sadly, we are now another casualty of the failing high street.
“The footfall into the shop has consistently reduced since Covid which has made having a good selection of stock difficult and keeping the shop open and paying for staff unsustainable.”
The shop is now holding a closing down sale with 35% off everything.
It will be open all weekend and cash payments are preferred, it said.
The shop added: “Please, please, please share so we can go out with a bang!
“Thank you to all our customers who have supported us over the years and to all the staff, past and present, who have worked tirelessly to provide an exceptional service.”
Any items bought in the sale will be non-returnable.
Canterbury residents appeared devastated by the news, with many commenting on and sharing the Facebook post.
One pointed out: “You know what I find sad. This post has 81 likes, 22 shares and numerous comments. It’s a shame that this didn’t happen on all your posts!
“If people did that regularly to posts of small independent business things like this would likely not happen.”
Another said they were “so incredibly sad” and the shop would be “missed”.
“Both of my children had their first shoes from you and we have never been anywhere else since,” they said.
They added: “So sorry you have had to make this decision xx.”
Another commenter wrote: “Such a shame! We absolutely love these small independent shoe shops and it’s so sad that they are all disappearing, thank you for all of your lovely shoes over the last 6 years! Xxx.”
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.
High energy costs 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.”
