Major charity shop could close more than HALF of stores in latest blow to high street
Major charity shop could close more than HALF of stores in latest blow to high street
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A MAJOR charity has announced it could close half of its stores in the latest blow to the high street. The charity's bosses have said the difficult decision is being considered in the face of declining footfall on high streets and spiralling costs. Chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said the charity's retail arm had made a “real contribution to raising vital income”, but that external factors had “made trading harder”.
![[Scope charity shop in Worthing.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/scope-charity-shop-worthing-862874919.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
He said: “There’s a lot more of us doing online shopping and that means, in some cases, there’s less people on the high street. There’s also actually more competition through online in the pre-loved retail market too.”. Hodgkinson also cited increases in the cost of rents, utilities and salaries.
A consultation on the proposed closures is live now and will run until March. It is believed that the closure of the stores could lead to the loss of 200 jobs, while also impacting some 2,000 volunteers. In its Annual Report for the year to March 2023 Scope said it had made £24million from trading activities, including shops and online sales, up from £23.6million the year before.
In the same year it had spent £24.7million maintaining and operating its shops, £1million more than the previous year. The year had seen Scope close 22 underperforming shops, but it also opened two shops in the year, with six more sites planned. While it had been a challenging year on the high street, Scope saw e-commerce sales increase by 75% in 2023/24, with sales increasing by £1.2million on the year before.
