High street giant branded 'great place for Christmas shopping' condemns another branch for closure | The Sun

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A HIGH street giant branded a "great place for Christmas shopping" condemns another shop for permanent closure.

Argos will close its standalone store at the Overgate in Dundee city centre.

The store, located on the upper floor of the shopping centre, will shut for good in March 2024.

An Argos spokesman confirmed the news, describing it was a "difficult decision".

They told The Courier: "We are currently talking to our colleagues in our Dundee Overgate Argos store, which we have made the difficult decision to close.

"We understand this will be an unsettling time for those affected.

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"We are supporting them in every way we can, including exploring opportunities for colleagues to redeploy within Argos and Sainsbury's."

Reacting to the news on Facebook, one shopper said: "It's in an inconvenient location.

"It's much easier to get bulky items delivered or go to Sainsbury's where you can park near the shop.

Another said: "Never anyone in the place these days. Still a shame though."

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Earlier this year the retailer announced plans to close 100 stores within 12 months. 

Sainsbury’s who own Argos, has said the move is part of plans to expand Argos’ presence in supermarkets. 

It has already shut more than 45 branches in the last 12 months and opened up over 25 branches inside Sainsbury's stores.

By March 2024, Sainsbury's expects to have 160 standalone stores and between 430 and 460 Argos counters inside Sainsbury's supermarkets.

What other stores are closing?

Argos closed its standalone store at the Roaring Meg retail park in Stevenage in November.

The Riverside Argos store in Norwich shut in August.

A new branch will open in Queens Road Sainsbury's.

Locations in Newport and Cardiff Bay in Wales also shut up shop later this year.

Argos closed its store in St Stephen's shopping centre in Hull on August 8.

A new branch in Sainsbury's Hessle opened the following day on August 9.

The homeware chain relocated its Grimsby Alexandria store on August 9 and 10.

The Scunthorpe Argos also relocated on August 15 and 16.

And the Parc Plaza branch in Bridgend also closed its doors in recent weeks.

The retailer has also shut standalone stores in the following locations:

  • Coventry
  • Nottingham
  • Lanarkshire
  • Birkenhead
  • Grimsby
  • Scunthorpe
  • Hull
  • Bridgend

It also closed all of its 34 stores in the Republic of Ireland on June 24.

The full list of stores that closed down in Ireland are:

  • Ashbourne Retail Park
  • Athlone Argos
  • Blanchardstown West End Argos
  • Carlow Argos
  • Castlebar Argos
  • Cavan Argos
  • Clonmel Argos
  • Cork Mahon Argos
  • Cork Retail Park Argos
  • Drogheda Argos
  • Dun Laoghaire Argos
  • Dundalk Retail Park Argos
  • Dundrum Argos
  • Galway Argos
  • Ilac Centre (Dublin) Argos
  • Kilkenny Argos
  • Killarney Argos
  • Letterkenny Argos
  • Liffey Valley Argos
  • Limerick Childers Road Argos
  • Longford Argos
  • Monaghan Argos
  • Naas Argos
  • Navan Argos
  • Omni Park (Dublin) Argos
  • Portlaoise Argos
  • Rathfarnham Nutgrove Argos
  • Sligo Argos 4146
  • St. Stephens Green (Dublin)
  • Tallaght Argos
  • Tralee Argos
  • Tullamore Argos
  • Waterford Argos
  • Wexford Argos

The company blamed the closure of the Republic of Ireland stores on the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business as "not viable".

Why are retailers closing branches?

The cost of living crisis, stubbornly high inflation and energy costs are taking their toll on retailers.

Shoppers have been cutting back spending, while the cost of actually running a store has also increased, meaning some outlets have struggled to keep going.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) this summer found the UK had lost 6,000 stores over a five-year period.

Several major brands have also collapsed and closed stores for good.

Wilko's fall in August marked the biggest British retail collapse since McColl's plunged into administration in May last year.

Paperchase collapsed into administration at the end of January this year and all 106 stores closed for good.

Scottish clothing brand M&Co and wellies retailer Joules were among a host of other familiar brands that went bust in 2022.

But shoppers still have reason to be cheerful as other retailers are actually expanding this year.

The Sun recently revealed discount retailer Costco is expanding in the UK and is planning to open 14 more warehouses over the next two years.

Bonmarche is opening at least seven new stores after filing for administration in 2019, while The White Company is due to open new stores in October and November.

Once-huge bakery chain Patisserie Valerie, which also collapsed into administration and closed most of its stores, has started reopening branches, as revealed by the Sun.

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Wilko shops have already started returning to the UK high street after the chain collapsed earlier this year.

We also recently revealed bakeries Wenzels, Greggs, Dunkin' Donuts and The Cornish Bakery are all in the process of expanding in the UK.

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