Over 10,000 retail stores closed last year and almost 120,000 jobs were lost, according to figures shared by the Centre for Retail Research.
The centre’s Director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, explained that this is “this ‘improvement’ is probably best viewed as a trend that is ‘less bad’ rather than ‘good’ and doesn’t reflect any real strength in the sector”, compared to 2022 which had jobs losses totalling 151,641.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” explained Prof Bamfield.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Wilko was one of the biggest stores to shut up shop in 2023, which employed around 12,000 people before it collapsed. Other closures included UK Flooring Director, Planet Organic and Tile Giant. Wilko have started to open more stores, after a change in ownership.
The research centre highlighted that many of these closures could be explained by businesses restructuring and putting more resources in their online markets.
Since 2010, more than 420,000 retail jobs have been lost and between 2022 and 2023, insolvencies jumped up by 52 per cent.
