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MORE shops are set to close down for good this month as the high street continues to take a battering.

Increases in costs to businesses this month have meant some retailers have been forced to hike prices and review their stores and expansion plans.

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Some big name brands will be closing stores this month[/caption]

Many will be struggling with the rise in employer National Insurance contributions coming into force, as well as increasing energy costs and rent.

On top of this, high streets have recorded months of decreased footfall and customer spending.

This year has already seen the closures of shops from big-name brands such as WHSmith, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, Homesense and The Entertainer.

It’s worth noting that retailers regularly open and close shops for a number of reasons, not just because they are struggling.

For example, they may have a store nearby that is performing better or it may be that they want to move to a spot that has higher footfall, such as a retail park.

Here are all the shops we know are shutting in April 2025.

WHSmith

More of the stationery retailer’s shops are set to close this month, after two stores shut down in March.

The stores earmarked for closure this month are:

• Halstead, Essex
• Halesowen, West Midlands
• Diss, Norfolk
• Newport, Wales
• Haverhill, Suffolk
• Woolwich, London

No exact dates have been given yet for the closures, apart from Haverhill which will close on April 26.

Last month, WHSmith closed its branches in Basingstoke and Winton, Bournemouth.

A further 10 stores have been shuttered since March 2023, including sites in Manchester and Bicester.

The brand is in fact set to leave the high street forever as it has agreed to sell 500 shops as part of a £76million deal.

Retail investor Modella Capital snapped up the portfolio, with the stores eventually set to rebranded as TGJones.

WHSmith will instead be investing in its more than 580 travel stores across airports, hospitals, railway stations and motorway service areas.

Beaverbrooks

Jewellery brand Beaverbrooks is also shutting three shops early this month.

Its Huddersfield branch will close on Saturday, while its stores in Croydon and Sutton Coldfield will shut on Sunday.

The retailer said last month it would be closing down seven branches that are “no longer commercially viable”.

Its stores in East Kilbride, Dundee and Birmingham Fort closed last month.

When the closures were announced, managing director Anna Blackburn said the decision was made following a review of business performance.

She added: “We aim to retain as many colleagues as possible within other Beaverbrooks stores or the wider business, and are working closely with each individual affected to provide them with options for their specific needs, supporting them with their next steps whatever they may be.”

Sports Direct

The huge sports retailer is axing its Newmarket Road store in Cambridge on April 18.

Shoppers can get big bargains in the closing down sale before then.

One bargain hunter posted on Facebook: “Sports Direct on Newmarket Rd is closing down, 18/04. Lots of bargains in store!”

Sports Direct has closed a number of its branches over the last few years.

Its store in the Central Six Retail Park, Coventry, closed at the end of January 2024.

Its branches in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, also shut down last year.

Refill

An environmentally friendly store in Chelmsford, Essex, will also be closing its doors this month.

The shop had offered unpackaged items in bulk to be bought in small quantities as refills.

No exact closure date has been given yet but it said it would aim for the end of April once its stock has been sold.

Refill’s owners said they had struggled with financial difficulties, as well as being unable to give the shop the “time and energy it deserves”.

The store had been saved from closure in January 2023 when its original owner stepped back, but passionate eco-warriors Russell Betts, Danielle Cottee and Andy McAlonan took it over as new owners at the time.

FarmFoods

Budget supermarket FarmFoods is closing one of its longstanding branches on Sunday.

The store in Dundee will be closing for good after bosses took the decision not to renew their lease at the site.

The Scottish business had started out as a butcher shop in Aberdeen in the 1950s before it evolved into a supermarket chain with more than 350 branches.

In addition to the Dundee branch, FarmFoods has been closing other branches across the country, including in Banbury and in Southend.

However retailers close branches here and there for a number of reasons, such as leases coming to an end.

FarmFoods sales surpassed £1billion for the first time in 2023, the most recent accounts available for the supermarket show.

A. G. Meek

The shoe chain will permanently close one of its stores after 60 years of business next week.

The store on Eastgate Street in Gloucester will shut for good on April 12.

It will leave the small retail chain with just four sites, all of which are in Wales.

Owner David Meek said the Gloucester city centre store was shutting due to the hike in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs), a reduction in business rate relief and lower footfall.

He said the shop had not been “covering its costs”.

Products at the store have been massively reduced ahead of the closure.

Aldi

The discount supermarket will be shutting its Swanfield Place branch in Llanelli, Wales on April 27.

It says it has no plans to replace the store, meaning shoppers will have to go a 30-minute walk to the site in Trostre.

Labour councillor Shaun Greaney said at the time: “People can ill-afford to lose this store. With rising energy prices, water bills, and a near 9% hike in council tax, this shop was a lifeline for those barely scraping by.

“I don’t know how people are going to manage now.”

An unhappy customer wrote on Facebook: “Been on the cards for a long time. Just been seeing out their lease. They were never going to keep two open in the town.”

MBAS Clothing

An independent clothes shop has also said it will shut its doors at the end of the month.

MBAS Clothing in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, said its footfall had reduced by 70% and therefore it couldn’t keep the business afloat.

A spokesperson said: “Despite huge efforts to entice the good people of Arnold and surrounding areas into the shop, we have not succeeded.

“Our footfall is as much as 70% down on previous years, and we have to face facts that the shop is not what people want.”

The company will continue trading from its warehouse instead.

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