High Street chain with 105 stores will shut multiple UK branches in just weeks

Alsharq Tribune- World News

A major high street chain with 105 stores across the UK will shut 12 branches within a matter of weeks. The North of England will bear the brunt of the announcement, as nine of Select Fashion's 12 confirmed closures are set for the North East.

Sites in Southshields, Peterlee, Thornaby, Hartlepool, Scarborough, Hull Hessle, Hull St Stephens, Ashington and Scunthorpe will close, according to documents seen by The Sun.

Its Welsh branch in Merthyr Tydfil and its Wellingborough store is set to close in March, and Chippenham in Wiltshire is also reportedly closing. Scunthorpe residents described the announcement as another "nail in the coffin", after many retailers left the high street including Argos last year.

The British fashion brand, owned by Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahirolu, fell into administration in 2019, which the company owed to unforgiving high street conditions.

According to filings on Companies House, the UK's register of businesses, Select Fashion entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) last summer, which allows businesses to continue trading by negotiating its debts, such as cutting rental costs with landlords.

The news follows a string of closures for Select, including sites in Wolverhampton and Kidderminister, which closed at the start of the year.

Select Fashion confirmed closures in 2024 in Ipswich, Kent, and Cwmbran, as well as the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre in London.

It reflects a trend across the rest of the UK highstreet, as confirmed by the BBC in September last year, which reported the equivalent of 38 shops per day closed in the UK this year.