Major retail chain closing more stores after hundreds of job cuts
The popular stores have been struggling amid recent consumer changes.
It's a pretty difficult time to operate a retail business right now.
No matter which corner of the market you look at, disruption, consolidation, constraints, and plain old confusion are rampant.
Related: Huge furniture company closing forever, laying off staff
Unless you're one of the large retailers that sells just about everything, you're probably constantly looking over your shoulder, making sure your customers don't forget about you.
Such is the case for so many legacy retailers, who rely on brand loyalty and longstanding customers to keep sales up.
The only problem is, when those customers wander off in search of more convenient or cheaper options, the profit goes with them.
Which, in turn, means that these business are forced to make some pretty difficult decisions.
Legacy retailers have a harder time
Many of these businesses have found it incredibly difficult to rebound after such a rough past several years.
While they may have been skating by before 2020, the pandemic only accelerated several inevitable trends. For many businesses, this unprecedented event came to be the final straw.
Related: Iconic retail chain suddenly closing down store after job cuts
Take, for example, the case of Joann or Party City.
Both retailers relied heavily on brick-and-mortar operations. But when Covid hit and their stores shuttered, customers sought their goods elsewhere (primarily online, at least for a short period of time).
More closings:
- Iconic retail chain closing nearly 500 stores
- Another discount retailer closing over 1,000 stores
- Another struggling mall retail chain closing more stores
When things reopened, customers' behavior had shifted more or less permanently.
They were now getting their crafts and party supplies from larger retailers like Target, Walmart, or Amazon. And these niche, specialty retailers had no choice but to close up shop.
Another retailer closes stores
These issues aren't just constrained to the U.S.
U.K.-based greeting card store Clintons has been facing similar issues.
As interest in paper goods — and particularly, snail mail — declines, the high street retailer already shuttered 38 stores across the country and eliminated about 300 jobs in 2024.
Related: Another discount retailer closing over 1,000 stores
And now, it's closing an additional two stores, which brings its total fleet count to about 170. At its height, it operated about 1,000 total stores.
“The company has continued to close loss-making stores and the portfolio of retail stores is now down to approximately 170 stores," Clintons said in a statement.
"The high street continues to be unpredictable and the company is seeing reduced footfall in the stores year on year. The company continues to monitor the performance of the existing estate and to close the poor performing stores, which, whilst impacting on turnover, should improve profitability moving forwards."
Clintons was acquired by Cardzone in March 2024.
