Our figures for store closures and job losses in retailing for the years 2018-2023 can be found below.
Business Rates, Online Competitors, Coronavirus and other Misfortunes:
Permacrisis. Retailing in most of the Western World has been in crisis for more than ten years. This followed rapid debt-fuelled expansion of shops in the 2000s that pushed up rents in city centres to astronomical levels. This came to an end in the financial crisis of 2008, which led to the collapse of many retailers and store closures. The most famous business failure was Woolworths.
Growth of Online Retailing. The growth of online retailing was faster in the UK than any other country. The online share of retailing was 6.6% in 2006. In 2013 it was 12.7% and rose to 19.2% in 2019, cutting the potential sales of many previously-viable retail stores. During the pandemic online sales were boosted by the fact that many people feared going into stores, while most non-food stores were closed during Lockdowns. By the first quarter of 2021, online sales achieved a sales share of more than 36% every month, although it fell back to around 25% by early 2023 - still 30% higher than the 2019 outcome.
Retail Futures 2018 is the title of our 2014 report that argued that the growth in online retailing and changing consumer demand would lead to one in five UK stores closing in the next five years. In fact it took 5 years, 6 months for this to happen. Many retailers cut staffing, closing their branches in smaller towns and less prosperous suburbs.
The Pandemic. The Coronavirus pandemic accelerated the pre-existing trends in shopping behaviour. In most countries, including the UK, households were advised to 'work from home', non-essential shops were closed for long periods, and shopping in the remaining stores and malls was made unpleasant. Hygiene and social-distancing rules and the frequent closure or restrictions of hospitality (pubs, coffee bars, restaurants etc) made a day out shopping impossible for part of the year and an obstacle course even when shops were open. Working from home also meant, of course, that employees could no longer 'pop in' to nearby shops or buy goods on their way to or from work. Total sales in London's Oxford Street fell from the usual £10bn pa to £2bn in 2020. Each UK nation became preoccupied with offical death figures, the rate of hospitalisation and infection figures, the necessity of adherence to ever-changing covid regulations and the regular demands for more intense and longer Lockdowns. Visiting a shop for some people was tantamount to suicide. Moreover, the number of visits by foreign tourists (important for holiday destinations and retailers in major cities), especially Chinese, has plummeted and will only recover slowly.
People have got out of the habit of high-street shopping or even visiting a store. Even by early 2023, customer footfall was 10% lower than in 2019, and in major cities even less.
Inflation in 2022. Increased prices in 2022 (food rose by more than 10%) led consumers to seek out cheaper retailers and forced most retailers to become more competitive. The whopping increase in energy prices was large enough to have a profound impact on 20%-25% of consumers, so they spent less in shops and on online because they had to pay the higher energy bills.
There are two other reasons for the problems of retailing, which are out of the control of retailers.
Business Rates. Business rates are a regular property tax paid by business. They are based on hypothetical rental values. As much as one-quarter of the entire business rates total now comes from the retail sector. Rents paid by shops have been declining as stores close and new occupants become difficult to find. The decline in rents has not led to a fall in business rates. Even those whose sales have risen (especially supermarkets) have faced sharply-increased costs from complying with the new regulations to protect the public and their staff. Online retailers of course pay business rates at the reduced levels applicable to warehouses. A satisfactory future for high streets will only occur if online retailers pay the same rates as store-based retailers
This page provides data on retail job losses and store closures month-by-month this year. It provides comparative figures for 2018-2021. The year 2020 was probably the worst year for retailers for 25 years. These are analysed, based on whether retail companies have gone into administration, agreed CVAs or they have rationalised their operations to meet reduced or changing demand. The figures relate to large and medium-sized retailers (five stores or more) and to independents (fewer than five stores, mostly one or two).
Here are details from the Centre for Retail Research about where the job losses and store closures have come from in each year since we started collecting figures in this detail.
Table 1
Outcomes for 2023*
Retailing 2023 (to 13 Sept) |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation | NA | NA | 10,248 | 10,248 |
multiples': stores closed | 790 | 918 | 1,708 | |
multiples: jobs lost | 17,138 | 16.235 | 33,373 | |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops | 723 | 1,248 | 1,971 | |
independent store closures | 933 | 1,483 | 2,416 | |
independent job losses | 3,825 | 6.970 | 10,795 | |
Total Job losses | 21,686 | 34,701 | 56,387 | |
Total store closures | 1,723 | 2,401 | 4,124 |
* based on our current information to 13 September 2023 (including Wilko losses).
Table 2
Outcomes for 2022*
Retailing 2022 (12 months) |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation | NA | NA | 13,240 | 13,240 |
multiples: stores closed | 549 | 5,506 | 6,055 | |
multiples: jobs lost | 6,732 | 69.977 | 76,709 | |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops | 1,678 | 6,106 | 7,784 | |
independent store closures | 4,960 | 6,130 | 11,090 | |
independent job losses | 23,504 | 30,237 | 53,741 | |
Total Job losses | 31,914 | 119,560 | 151,474 | |
Total store closures | 5,509 | 11,636 | 17,145 |
* based on our current information, updated 2 Jan 2023.
Table 3
Outcomes for 2021
Retailing 2021 (full year) |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation | NA | NA | 9,118 | 9,118 |
multiples: stores closed | 1,251 | 324 | 942 | 2,517 |
multiples: jobs lost` | 24,179 | 2,851 | 40,843 | 67,873 |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops | 3,873 | 107 | 3,982 | 7,962 |
independent store closures | 3,760 | 5,041 | 8,801 | |
independent job losses | 11,882 | 14,019 | 25,901 | |
Total Job losses | 39,934 | 2,958 | 62,835 | 105,727 |
Total store closures | 5,011 | 324 | 6,124 | 11,459 |
* based on our current information.
Table 4
Outcomes for 2020 (to 31 December).
Retailing 2020 |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation | NA | NA | 14,755 | 14,755 |
multiples: stores closed | 2041 | 533 | 2,975 | 5,549 |
multiples: jobs lost | 53,364 | 11,496 | 44,521 | 109,381 |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops | 8,715 | 490 | 8,240 | 17,445 |
independent store closures | 4,189 | - | 6,307 | 10,496 |
independent job losses | 12,286 | - | 28,697 | 40,983 |
Total Job losses | 74,365 | 11,986 | 96,213 | 182,564 |
Total store closures | 6,230 | 533 | 9,282 | 16,045 |
* Correct to 31 December 2020.
Table 5
Outcomes for 2019 (12 months)
Retailing 2019 |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation |
NA |
NA |
9,593 |
9,593 |
multiples: stores closed |
684 |
313 |
4,404 |
5,901 |
multiples: jobs lost | 9,060 | 24,042 | 43,164 | 72,266 |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops | 5,873 | 2,420 | 5,991 | 14,284 |
independent store closures | 5,720 | - | 4,452 | 10,172 |
independent job losses | 23,171 | - | 19,816 | 42,985 |
Total Job losses | 38,103 | 26,462 | 78,563 | 143,128 |
Total store closures | 6,404 | 313 | 9,356 | 16,073 |
Table 6
Outcomes for 2018 (12 months)
Retailing 2018 |
Administ-ration |
CVAs |
Rational-isation |
Totals |
specific redundancies & rationalisation |
NA |
NA |
19,112 |
19,112 |
multiples: stores closed |
1,631 |
272 |
1,400 |
3,303 |
multiples: jobs lost (store closure) |
22,671 |
3,900 |
11,862 |
38,433 |
self-employed/concessions in larger shops |
1,300 |
2,200 |
1,350 |
4,850 |
independent closures |
9,820 |
1,460 |
11,280 |
|
independent job losses |
48,314 |
6,716 |
55,030 |
|
Total job losses |
72,285 |
6,100 |
39,040 |
117,425 |
Total store closures |
11,451 |
272 |
2,860 |
14,583 |
For more information or support about CVAs, talk to KSA Group (https://www.ksagroup.co.uk/)
The estimates on this page give job losses and store closures resulting from:
We only include proposed closures and announced job losses. We do not include what the BBC calls jobs ‘at risk’ (ie companies or in administration) because there is a danger that this overstates losses in a normal year and we publish those figures anyway in Who’s Gone Bust?