Birmingham is set to lose one location with potentially more to follow
River Island confirmed 33 locations stores would be closing(Image: Stuart Vance/ReachPlc)
River Island has confirmed the 33 locations it will be closing down forever, though it only makes up a small slice of the further 70 stores it’s earmarked for closure.
The clothing chain has blamed changing customer habits on the reason for closures, with less footfall on the high street as the main cause.
The Birmingham store inside The Fort Shopping Park is one of the closures confirmed, though there are more locations impacting the Midlands.
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Full list of 33 River Island store closures:
- Aberdeen Union Square
- Basildon
- Bedford
- Beverley
- Birmingham Fort
- Blackburn
- Bolton
- Broughton Park
- Cannock
- Castleford
- Chesterfield
- Crewe
- Derby
- Doncaster
- Edinburgh Princes Street
- Fareham
- Gateshead Metrocentre
- Glasgow Argyle Street
- Glasgow Silverburn
- Grimsby
- Halifax
- Harrow
- Huddersfield
- Ipswich
- Kidderminster
- Kilmarnock
- Leamington Spa
- Loughborough
- Luton
- Middlesbrough
- Peterborough
- Southport
- Walsall
In a statement issued last week, Ben Lewis, chief executive officer, said: “River Island is a much-loved retailer, with a decades-long history on the British high street.
“However, the well-documented migration of shoppers from the high street to online has left the business with a large portfolio of stores that is no longer aligned to our customers’ needs.
“The sharp rise in the cost of doing business over the last few years has only added to the financial burden.”
River Island Clothing Co’s account revealed that the company made a pre-tax loss of £33.2 million for the year ending December 30, 2023.
This was not helped in the following 12 months when turnover fell by more than 19% to £578.1 million.
This resulted in the chain bringing on board advisers from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) just weeks ago to come up with money-saving solutions.
River Island currently employs around 5,500 workers across the UK, though it has not said how many jobs are at risk due to the closures.
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