WHSmith is set to shut more stores in 2025, following a series of closures last year.
The high street stalwart has already shuttered branches in Scotland, Kent, and Manchester, with further closures expected.
Shoppers in Bournemouth were the latest to be affected by the stationery giant’s portfolio shakeup as a popular WHSmith branch on Old Christchurch Road ceased trading on Saturday, January 18.
A second site in nearby Winton will follow suit on February 15, a crushing blow to locals given the earlier closure of another store in Boscombe in June.
WHSmith Basingstoke branch will close within weeks, and according to the Basingstoke Gazette, the store inside The Malls shopping centre has been a fixture for over 50 years.
WHSmith shops closed on mass elsewhere in the UK in 2024, including:
- Alfreton, Derbyshire
- Ramsgate, Kent
- Oban, Argyll
- Bute, Scotland
- Nantwich, South Cheshire
- Margate, Kent
- Bridgwater
- Sale
- Manchester
The retailer has confirmed that its Basingstoke branch will also lock its doors for the final time this winter. According to the Basingstoke Gazette, the store inside The Malls shopping centre has been a fixture for over 50 years.
A clearance sale, with some stock discounted by 30%, will be held in the coming weeks before the store closes its doors for good on February 1.
The Oldham store closure is the latest confirmed by a WHSmith spokesperson, who told the Oldham Times that it was ‘no longer sustainable’ to continue trading from its current location in a shopping centre.
The full list of WHSmith sites shutting this year is as follows:
- Winton, Bournemouth – February 15
- Basingstoke – February 1
- Bolton – February
- Accrington – March
- Diss, Norfolk – April
- Newport – April
- Oldham – May
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. WHSmith is shifting its focus from high streets to travel hubs like train stations and airports, and 110 new openings are also on the horizon.
Company accounts reveal that travel sales have increased by 15% over the same period, while revenue for its high street portfolio has fallen by 3%.
As part of the business’s major revamp, the stationery giant will expand its stock offering and reintroduce vinyl records. The iconic products will return to shelves after a 30-year absence, tapping into a growing trend among consumers.
That’s not all. In addition to some new sites selling hot food and drinks, the retailer announced last year that 76 of its stores would stock Toys R Us products, reviving the iconic toy brand that vanished nearly a decade ago.
