Nearly 5,000 stores shut across Britain last year after retailers including Wilko, Paperchase and Lloyds pharmacy closed their doors. However, there was a rise in new stores opened by thriving UK chains including Greggs, Domino's and Costa, even if this has not outweighed the numbers of closures.
The new stores were mostly coffee drive-through chains, bubble tea shops, fast food restaurants and discount retailers outside of city centres, according to data from PwC. There were more than 14,000 store closures across the UK last year, an average of 39 per day, and a net fall of nearly 5,000 shops, or 14 per day.
Chains which saw the biggest fall in the number of outlets due to financial problems or restructures were fashion chains M&Co and Joules, stationers Paperchase, general store Wilko and pub group Stonegate. The firms which saw the most new locations included discount retailer Aldi, coffee chains Costa and Starbucks, and fast food chains Greggs and Domino's.
The total number of store closures and openings in Great Britain between January and June by year shows a rebound for the hospitality sector following the pandemic. According to the data, 9,138 new stores were opened last year, the most since 2019, significantly comprised of new sites for hospitality businesses.
But 11,530 stores were closed by chains in 2023, mainly due to 'one-off' restructures and failures of big retail firms, several of which had faced financial difficulty for several years, according to PwC. Retail parks outside town centres have seen a small rise in the number of shops and outlets, with supermarkets and petrol stations also growing.
Commercial director at the Local Data Company Lucy Stainton welcomed the rise in store openings last year and said the higher levels of 'churn' in 2023 were due to bigger firms 'repositioning and consolidating their portfolios'. Senior retail adviser at PwC Kien Tan said there were a lot of closures in 2023 due to the 'one-off' failures.
