A HIGH street shoe chain has closed 39 stores after suffering poor sales.
Shoe Zone said the number of bargain shoe chains it runs fell from 297 to 269 in the 52 weeks to September 2025.
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Shoe Zone closed 39 stores this year after consumer confidence fellCredit: PA
Over the period, the retailer closed 39 stores, but also opened 11 new sites and refit six locations.
Shoe Zone is yet to confirm the full list of locations, but it shut a branch in Bexhill town centre earlier this year.
It’s also closed stores in Boscombe, Bournemouth and Burgess Hill and West Sussex.
Last year, Shoe Zone shut branches in Watford, Stoke-on-Trent, and Inverness.
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Shoe Zone today posted revenue of £149.1million, which was down 7.6% when compared to the exact same period last year.
Bosses at Shoe Zone said they faced a “challenging year” after shoppers had less cash to burn due to high inflation and interest rate hikes.
In an update this morning, Charles Smith, chairman of the brand, said: “This was a challenging year, particularly in the second half, as consumer confidence fell following the Government’s October 2024 budget,..”
“With persistent inflation, higher interest rates and reduced levels of disposable income all contributing to general negative economic and consumer sentiment in the UK.
“Sales were good when there was a clear reason to buy, such as the warm summer and the Back-To-School season.
“However, overall discretionary spending remains subdued as consumers exercise greater caution in their expenditure.”
Back in May, the chain said it had to close “unviable” sites due to the increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
It also blamed soaring business rates, wage hikes, lower customer spends and poor weather for the hit to its stores.
Some 21 of its locations closed in the first half of the financial year alone.
MORE RETAIL TROUBLE
Shoe Zone is not the only retail brand feeling the squeeze.
New Look previously warned it would shut nearly 100 stores ahead of National Insurance hikes which came into place in April.
The beloved brand has already rolled the shutters down on 13 stores across the country after struggling in the current economic climate.
It most recently closed its branch in The Potteries Centre in Stoke-on-Trent in Hanley, on October 14.
River Island will also shutter over 33 stores as part of a major restructuring plan to help keep the fashion chain afloat.
Meanwhile, fears that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will increase business rates on larger stores has made many big players in the retail space worried.
Many larger retailers have voiced their concerns over this plan arguing the move could make them unprofitable or lead to price hikes.
In August, a letter signed by Morrisons, Aldi and JD Sports, warned that further tax rises on businesses could result in the Labour government breaking its manifesto pledge to provide “high living standards”.
It reads: “As retailers, we have done everything we can to shield our customers from the worst inflationary pressures but as they persist, it is becoming more and more challenging for us to absorb the cost pressures we face.”
Analysis carried out by the British Retail Consortium also suggested that 400 larger-format stores, such as department stores and supermarkets could close if the changes took place.
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Many businesses have already seen their labour costs rise thanks to the rate of employer national insurance being increased in last year’s Budget.
The Treasury expects the new rates system will only impact the top 1% of properties.
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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.”
