A BIG high street chain with over 1,200 locations is set to shut another shop in hours, in a fresh wave of 100 closures.
Argos is shutting another of its standalone stores tomorrow for the final time.
The popular retailer has already closed a number of its UK stores as part of its plan to move away from the high street.
Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury's has a plan to close 100 stores across the UK in 2023/24 and focus on expanding its presence in supermarkets.
It has already shut more than 45 branches in the last 12 months and opened up over 25 branches inside Sainsbury's stores.
The homeware retailer is also pulling the shutters down on its shop in Swansea's Morfa Shopping Park on August 22.
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The area's closest Argos will then be the store inside Sainsbury's in Quay Parade in Swansea city centre.
A spokesperson for Argos previously told The Sun: "The transformation of our Argos store and distribution network has been progressing at pace for several years now, improving availability, convenience and service for customers.
"As part of this we are continuing to open new Argos stores and collection points in many of our Sainsbury’s supermarkets, enabling customers to purchase thousands of technology, home and toy products from Argos while picking up their groceries."
What other stores are closing?
The Riverside Argos store in Norwich is also set to close in August but no date has been confirmed as yet.
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A new branch will open in Queens Road Sainsbury's.
Locations in Newport and Cardiff Bay in Wales will also shut up shop later in the year.
Earlier this month several Argos stores shut for good.
Argos closed its store in St Stephen's shopping centre in Hull on August 8.
A new branch in Sainsbury's Hessle opened the following day on August 9.
The homeware chain relocated its Grimsby Alexandria store on August 9 and 10.
The Scunthorpe Argos also relocated on August 15 and 16.
And the Parc Plaza branch in Bridgend also closed its doors in recent weeks.
This year alone the retailer shut stores in the following locations in total:
- Coventry
- Nottingham
- Lanarkshire
- Birkenhead
- Grimsby
- Scunthorpe
- Hull
- Bridgend
It also closed all of its 34 stores in the Republic of Ireland on June 24.
The full list of stores that closed down in Ireland are:
- Ashbourne Retail Park
- Athlone Argos
- Blanchardstown West End Argos
- Carlow Argos
- Castlebar Argos
- Cavan Argos
- Clonmel Argos
- Cork Mahon Argos
- Cork Retail Park Argos
- Drogheda Argos
- Dun Laoghaire Argos
- Dundalk Retail Park Argos
- Dundrum Argos
- Galway Argos
- Ilac Centre (Dublin) Argos
- Kilkenny Argos
- Killarney Argos
- Letterkenny Argos
- Liffey Valley Argos
- Limerick Childers Road Argos
- Longford Argos
- Monaghan Argos
- Naas Argos
- Navan Argos
- Omni Park (Dublin) Argos
- Portlaoise Argos
- Rathfarnham Nutgrove Argos
- Sligo Argos 4146
- St. Stephens Green (Dublin)
- Tallaght Argos
- Tralee Argos
- Tullamore Argos
- Waterford Argos
- Wexford Argos
The company blamed the closure of the Republic of Ireland stores on the investment required to develop and modernise the Irish part of its business as "not viable".
By March 2024, Sainsbury's expects to have 160 standalone stores and between 430 and 460 Argos counters inside Sainsbury's supermarkets.
The high street has been hit hard in recent years due to the growth of online shopping, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the same time the cost of living has been rising, leading to shoppers cutting back on non-essential spending.
Brick and mortar stores have also seen a lack of footfall due to consumer habits switching to online shopping.
Popular chains including M&Co and Paperchase closed all stores in 2023.
Most recently, bargain discounter Wilko fell into administration, putting 400 sites at risk.
It's not just shops either, food and pub chains have also been hit, resulting in brands like Wetherspoons and Frankie & Benny's closing.
Following the pandemic businesses were struggling to bounce back anyway, only to then be hit by soaring energy bills.
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Although, some chains have managed to defy high street troubles and are actually set to open new shops.
These include discount chains like Poundland which is set to open 15 shops in the coming weeks and Greggs which is aiming to open 150 new sites this year.
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