Three stores in North Wales to close in cull by charity

Scope is looking to close 77 of its 138 UK shops - with three stores in North Wales on the hitlist for the first phase. The charity said reduced footfall alongside rising costs had left some shops losing money.

This has seen them announce drastic action. The first phase will see 41 stores shut by March 31 this year.

It includes three shops in North Wales, in Llandudno, Bangor and Pwllheli. A full list of stores to close is below.

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Mark Hodgkinson, chief executive at the disability equality charity, said: “Scope has been campaigning for disability equality for over 70 years. Our shops have helped us raise vital income to support our work with disabled people and their families.

"But, the high street has had growing trading challenges which we want to now firmly recognise and address. Despite our teams' best efforts our shops are collectively now losing money when taking account of all of their costs. A number make strong profits but there are loss making shops too.

"This situation isn’t confined to Scope. All retailers have been hit with a greater shift to on-line shopping. And we are facing rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs, and the cost of living squeezing customers.

"As a result, and to ensure our funds are best focused upon our charitable purpose, we have let our teams know that we will be putting forward proposals to close some of our shops, in stages, over the next 18 months.

"This is not a set of proposals that we have put forward lightly. But our shops are collectively not as profitable as they once were, and we must make changes to the way we operate by focusing upon those that are.

"We recognise that for many colleagues and volunteers, Scope is more than just a job. They feel passionately about playing their part in our work creating an equal future with disabled people. We will be doing everything we can to support those affected, and these proposals aren't a reflection on our hard-working shop teams and volunteers.

"Scope continues to have a presence on the hight street in the future. We will run shops that make a profit, support our infrastructure costs and contribute towards our mission. We need to make sure we have the right sized retail estate that is able to withstand future cost increases.

"We have to make this difficult decision, to make sure the money we raise goes to support disabled people and their families and makes the biggest difference.

"We’ll also be reaching people in communities through our Community Hubs and local engagement programmes. And our shops will continue to be a place where we directly engage with the public, where they can find out about Scope’s work and join our movement for change.”

Proposed timings:

There would be 3 phases of less, or non-profitable shop closures. The first phase of 41 shops could close by 31 March 2025. These are shops where the lease end falls after 31 March 2026.

There are 31 shops where the leases end within the 2025/26 financial year. This means they fall between 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. They propose to close these shops on their lease end or break.

The final phase of proposed shop closures would be for broader operational reasons. They propose to close these 5 shops on lease end or break. This would be phase 3 of shop closures.

Shops

These shops are proposed to close by 31 March 2025:

• Amersham

• Bangor

• Barking

• Beckenham

• Bexhill

• Bishop Auckland

• Bridgwater

• Castleford

• Christchurch

• Cambourne

• Devizes

• Dewsbury

• Eastbourne

• Ely

• Gillingham HS

• Halstead

• Haywards Heath

• Hertford

• Hinckley

• Kendal

• Lewisham

• Llandudno

• March

• Mitcham

• Morley

• New Milton

• Nuneaton

• Oadby

• Orpington

• Parkstone

• Petersfield

• Pwllheli

• Rochdale

• Scarborough

• Scunthorpe

• Shirley (Birmingham)

• Shirley (Southampton)

• Skipton

• Stourbridge

• Wednesbury

• Welling