IT’S been another tough year for big name brands across Scotland with mass closures already planned for 2025 – find out if your favourite chain has been affected.
Many pubs, restaurants, retailers, and banks have seen huge losses in the last 12 months.
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And a frightening number of businesses across the country have shut up shop for the final time as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Naturally, shoppers have cut back on their expenses, with rises in taxes and costs.
The decline in spending has already forced many chains to pursue restructuring plans and close locations.
With seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel, closures have already been planned for many businesses.
The Bank of Scotland have already announced they will be abandoning 16 branches across the country in 2025.
Bank of Scotland branches set to close
The Bank of Scotland will be closing 16 branches in 2025 – here are the locations that will face the axe.
- Banff, 29 Low Street AB45 1AU – May 8, 2025
- Bathgate, 50 Hopetoun Street EH48 4EU – June 30, 2025
- Callander, 42 Main Street FK17 8BD – March 20, 2025
- Cowdenbeath, 349-351 High Street KY4 9QJ – June 24, 2025
- Dunfermline, 1 Bothwell Street KY11 3AG – January 21, 2025
- Golspie, Main Street KW10 6RJ – February 4, 2025
- Kirkcaldy, Carberry Road KY1 3PA – January 21, 2025
- Kyle, Main Street IV40 8AB – January 27, 2025
- Langholm, High Street DG13 0JH – April 7, 2025
- Leven, 60 High Street KY8 4NA – May 7, 2025
- Linlithgow, Regent Centre Blackness Road EH49 7HU – June 23, 2025
- Montrose, 31 High Street DD10 8LT – March 10, 2025
- Newton Stewart, 37 Albert Street DG8 6EF – June 23, 2025
- North Berwick, 23 Westgate EH39 4AG – April 2, 2025
- Rothesay, 36-42 Montague Street PA20 0BT – June 30, 2025
- Wick, 18 Bridge Street KW1 4NG – June 25, 2025
Retailers across the country have also been hit hard by lack of spending, with many major UK chains already announcing closures in the new year, they include:
WHSmith
WHSmith have planned to cut costs of up to £10million in 2025, following a 4% drop in sales.
The organisation has 1,400 stores across the UK, and had announced plans to expand by 110 stores in 2024, including shops in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
They have closed 10 of their outlets since 2023, and further closures could follow in the new year as a method of cutting costs.
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Monki
H&M-owned fashion brand, Monki, have also announced plans to close all seven of their UK stores in 2025.
Their only Scots store sits in Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow.
H&M has not yet confirmed exactly when the stores will shut for good.
The Entertainer
Toy giant The Entertainer has confirmed plans to close its outlet at the Cameron Toll shopping centre in Edinburgh on January 4 2025.
It will mark the end of a decade-long run for the shop, which opened in 2014.
No reason has been given for the closure, but boss Andrew Murphy said October’s Budget would impact the firm’s finances.
Homebase
This year, 70 Homebase stores were saved from the brink of collapse in a large scale takeover by the owner of rivals, The Range.
Homebase stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dumfries, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Hamilton, Inverurie, and Oban, were all at risk of closure.
It has also been announced that another outlet in Fife is expected to close in the new year.
The hospitality sector is another that has decimated by the cost of living crisis.
Quiz
The fashion brand recently revealed that it is “running out of cash” due to “subdued consumer demand for the brand.”
The Glasgow-based fashion retailer has been struggling for several months.
The company operates 62 stores and 47 concessions across the UK and according to its website has about 1,500 staff.
Earlier this month, it said it had suffered a poor trading period in November and had hired advisers to help plan for the future of the business.
Chairman Peter Cowgill said the company needs to “substantially reduce” costs, which will likely see the closure of parts of the business.
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Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
The high street has seen a whole raft of closures over the past year, and more are coming.
The number of jobs lost in British retail dropped last year, but 120,000 people still lost their employment, figures have suggested.
Figures from the Centre for Retail Research revealed that 10,494 shops closed for the last time during 2023, and 119,405 jobs were lost in the sector.
It was fewer shops than had been lost for several years, and a reduction from 151,641 jobs lost in 2022.
The centre’s director, Professor Joshua Bamfield, said the improvement is “less bad” than good.
Although there were some big-name losses from the high street, including Wilko, many large companies had already gone bust before 2022, the centre said, such as Topshop owner Arcadia, Jessops and Debenhams.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend,” Prof Bamfield said.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
Alongside Wilko, which employed around 12,000 people when it collapsed, 2023’s biggest failures included Paperchase, Cath Kidston, Planet Organic and Tile Giant.
The Centre for Retail Research said most stores were closed because companies were trying to reorganise and cut costs rather than the business failing.
However, experts have warned there will likely be more failures this year as consumers keep their belts tight and borrowing costs soar for businesses.
The Body Shop and Ted Baker are the biggest names to have already collapsed into administration this year.
Many small family-owned restaurants and pubs have crumbled under the new Budget set out by the new Labour government.
But many larger chains with locations all over the country are also struggling.
Earlier this year Premier Inn operator Whitbread announced plans to close 200 of its pubs and restaurants.
Whitbread-owned brands include Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and more.
Some branches have been sold while others were earmarked for conversion into hotel rooms.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Last year, a play was set out to close earmarked sites over the next two years, with 1,500 jobs due to be lost.
With nearly 40 locations across Scotland, it is currently unclear which branches may be at risk.