Major charity store will shut greater than half their UK shops in contemporary blow to High Street – is your native on the listing?

A major charity shop will close more than half of its UK stores by March next year in a fresh blow to the High Street. 

Scope, a disability charity in England and Wales, will shut 39 of its 138 shops in the coming days amid declining footfall and spiralling costs. 

A further 31 stores have also been earmarked for closure between April 1 and March 31 next year. 

It comes after Scope warned in their January proposal that up to 200 jobs and 2,000 volunteer roles were at risk due to a possible 77 shop closures. 

At the time, chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said the decision was being made amid ‘growing trading challenges’. 

He said: ‘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.’

Mr Hodgkinson added that online shopping was one of the many reasons that contributed to the charity’s decline on the High Street.

‘All retailers have been hit with a greater shift to online shopping,’ he said. 

Scope, a disability charity in England and Wales, will shut 39 of its 138 shops in the coming days amid declining footfall and spiralling costs

Scope warned back in January that up to 200 jobs and 2,000 volunteer roles were at risk due to a possible further shop closures (stock photo)

The charity, which suffered a £1.5million loss this financial year, had been in a consultation period until the end of this month. 

Under the initial proposals, a total 41 Scope stores were earmarked for closure by March 31.  

But one of the at-risk stores in Pwllheli, north west Wales, was later saved.

The shop posted on Facebook: ‘We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all who have supported us and continue to do so.

‘We would not be able to continue to raise much needed funds to create equal futures with disabled people, without you.’

Scope stores have slowly been declining in numbers since 2019. 

Twenty-two underperforming shops in locations such as Haywards Heath and Southampton have already been shut. 

Scope’s annual report for the year to March 2023 said it had made £24million from trading activities, an increase of £600,000 from the year before.

But in the same year Scope spent £24.7million maintaining and operating its shops – £1million more than the year before. 

Mr Hodgkinson said: ‘We need to make sure we have the right sized retail estate that is able to withstand future cost increases.’

‘We need to make sure our money and our resources are ultimately focused on the biggest impact we can deliver.

‘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. 

‘If that means we have to shift where resources are allocated over time, that’s not a decision we’re going to take lightly, but we’re not going to shy away from it either, which is why we have gotten to this point.’ 

Staff and volunteers had already been briefed about the future of Scope. 

‘We want to try to give those colleagues and volunteers the best opportunities to maybe find alternative options,’ Mr Hodgkinson said.

‘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.’

He said he would contact other charities with a retail presence where a ‘large number of our colleagues and volunteers will find other homes if this consultation goes through’.

Mr Hodgkinson was confident that the remaining 61 shops across England and Wales would be able to survive and even be profitable.