A MAJOR retailer will shut a popular shop this weekend as 33 stores are set to close this month.
Homebase will close its branch in Sudbury in just a matter of days, according to reports in the Sudbury Mercury.
The outlet stated that closing down have appeared in the window of the Sudbury Homebase stating that there are only a few days before the store closes down.
One local also said they visited the shop recently and there was
“literally nothing left”.
The Sun has contacted Homebase for comment.
It comes as after Homebase revealed 33 stores would close this month after crashing into administration.
At the time, it marked the Sudbury branch as one of the stores impacted.
Administrators for the retailer Teneo previously confirmed which branches would shut permanently in weeks.
These include:
- Abington
- Alnwick
- Antrim
- Barnstaple
- Basildon Vange
- Belfast
- Branksome
- Cannock
- Chester
- Chichester Discovery Park
- Craigavon
- Daventry
- Derby Kingsway
- Folkestone
- Galwally
- Gateshead
- Glenrothes
- Harlow
- Herne Bay
- Hove
- Inverurie
- Ledbury
- Lewes
- Luton
- Newcastle Under Lyme
- Norwich Hall Road
- Norwich Sprowston
- Nottingham Arnold
- Saffron Walden
- Selly Oak
- Sleaford
- Sudbury
- Waltham Cross
It comes after 13 of the DIY chain’s branches shut for good in January.
Homebase fell into administration in November, with up to 70 of the struggling DIY chain’s branches bought by CDS Superstores, now trading as Wilko, The Range and Homebase.
But that left around 74 branches at risk of closure if no buyers could be found to take them on.
Teneo has confirmed 13 branches closed last month, including in London, Coventry and Bradford.
Now, the 33 shutting this month will take the full list of branches closing to 52, after six shut before the end of 2024.
Of the 74 sites put up for sale by Teneo, Sainsbury’s is expected to buy three more stores, after securing 10 earlier in 2024.
Last month, B&Q agreed to buy five branches. This suggests around four stores out of the list of 74 are at risk of closure still.
What is happening to the stores bought by CDS?
CDS Superstores previously said it would buy up to 70 Homebase shops.
It has also taken on the Homebase brand and relaunched its website with thousands of products up for sale.
It is re-purposing and opening some of the former Homebase stores under its The Range brand.
The new stores will feature products usually found in The Range but some will also contain “Garden Centres by Homebase”.
Others will feature “Kitchens by Homebase” spaces.
The hybrid branches have already started opening with CDS saying it wants to open three a week over the coming months.
The company plans to open at least 50 before the end of April.
CDS has already confirmed nine former Homebase locations out of the up to 70 which have opened.
Stores have opened in Birmingham, Felixstowe and Blyth.
Pictures of one of the new stores in Bournemouth were revealed earlier this month when it opened.
CDS said the move to take on up to 70 Homebase sites would see 1,600 staff keep their jobs.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
