A MAJOR high street cafe boasting 600 stores nationwide is set to shut up shop within days.
Caffè Nero in Reading will be closing its shutters for the last time after its connected store, flagship department store House of Fraser, announced its closure last month.
The coffee outlet will pull the plug on September 28, with staff to be redeployed to other local Nero stores, Reading Chronicle reported.
House of Fraser had been a stalwart presence in the Berkshire town after withstanding two recessions and a crippling global pandemic.
The store opened in 1999 in The Oracle but will vacate the building next week, as bargain seekers swamp aisles to nab heavily discounted items.
Customers have swooped in to claim must-go fashion and beauty products, some of which are 50 per cent off.
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Shelves are currently standing empty in the department store, with the Jack Wills section completely bare.
It is understood there are plans to develop 400 flats to replace the increasingly derelict building.
It comes after Caffè Nero pulled down the shutters of its shop in Union Street, Glasgow, after its lease ended.
Other coffee chains have been forced to close branches across the UK.
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Costa Coffee is shutting its Oakham shop in the East Midlands on Friday after a string of closures.
The chain, which has over 2,000 sites in the UK, has closed six stores in recent months.
Among the four permanent closures is the branch in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, which shut on June 3.
The branch in Witney closed just two days later, while the chain's Wigan town centre branch shut up shop on June 25.
High inflation since 2022 has seen shoppers' purses and wallets squeezed, meaning they're spending less.
Shoppers are also increasingly turning to online retail.
This, combined with high energy and wage costs, has seen many retailers struggling.
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