A BELOVED high street vintage store has shut down permanently just a few years after opening.
The independent retailer, in Bristol, waved goodbye to devastated customers on Tuesday.
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BS8 Vintage now sits empty after a huge closing down sale which saw all items on the shelf for under a tenner.
The store was hailed for their vintage clothes as well as popular brands slashed in price.
Shoppers were saddened to hear their high street favourite, which was open on Fridays and Saturdays, had been shuttered.
“Stroud is now a ghost town of shops,” commented one local.
“Great retro and classic clothing store. Loved the denim and we bought a denim women’s jacket at half the normal price. Very friendly staff,” wrote one fan previously.
” Fair prices for high end and vintage pieces,” added a third.
Another agreed: “Great place and the bargain basement is amazing.”
At present, no explanation has been given for the closure.
This comes after a huge shopping centre announced it will shut “indefinitely” – as more than 30 store owners saw their tenancies scrapped overnight.
The Square Shopping Centre in Birmingham’s Priory Square has been temporarily closed following a fire risk assessment last week.
In a crushing blow, it was officially announced the centre, which houses everything from retail giants to pubs, would be shuttered “indefinitely”.
The building owners, Hammerson, revealed there was a “high fire safety risk”.
Elsewhere, disappointed shoppers are waving goodbye to a beloved boutique closing after 22 years.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
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.”
Family-run Little N’s Baby Boutique sadly announced they will be shuttering their site in Dartford, Kent, in just days.
And, customers were devastated to hear a retail giant would be shuttering a “fantastic” city centre branch.
In another blow to the high street, a popular baby clothes store will soon be waving goodbye to customers in Chichester, West Sussex.
The Jojo Maman Bebe site will be shut down imminently – although no reason or exact date have been given.
HIGH STREET STRUGGLES
It comes as other retailers, both independent and industry giants, continue to struggle.
Dozens of shops are set to close across the country before the end of the month in the latest blow to UK high streets.
Just a few months in to 2025 and it’s already proving to be another tough year for many major brands.
Rising living costs – which mean shoppers have less cash to burn – and an increase in online shopping has battered retail in recent years.
Just this week former staple of the high street Quiz crashed into administration with the immediate closure of 23 stores.
New Look bosses made the decision to axe nearly 100 branches as they battle challenges linked to Autumn Budget tax changes.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer’s 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on New Look’s 8,000-strong workforce.
It’s understood the latest drive to accelerate closures is driven by the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is expected to hit retailers hard – and the British Retail Consortium has predicted these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
Meanwhile, the WHSmith brand name looks set to vanish from British high streets after 230 years
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