January 18th 2025.
One of the most beloved shops on the British high street, WHSmith, has announced that more of its stores will be closing for good in 2025. This news comes after a series of closures last year, including branches in Scotland, Kent, and Manchester. Unfortunately, this is another blow to the UK high street, which has been struggling in recent years.
In an effort to revamp their stores and adapt to changing shopping trends, WHSmith had announced plans to open 110 new branches in airports, railway stations, and hospitals. These locations were chosen because they tend to have higher profits compared to their high street stores. In addition, after a hiatus of thirty years, the stationery store also made the decision to start selling vinyl records again, in response to a growing demand among customers.
Last year, WHSmith also made headlines by announcing that 76 of its stores will now stock products from the iconic toy shop, Toys R Us, which had disappeared from the market almost a decade ago. However, with more store closures looming, many are wondering which WHSmith stores were already shut down last year.
To answer this question, here is a list of the shops that bid farewell in 2024 across the UK: Alfreton in Derbyshire, Ramsgate in Kent, Oban in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, Nantwich in South Cheshire, Margate in Kent, and Bridgwater, Sale, and Bournemouth in September and October respectively. As for the full list of WHSmith stores closing in 2025, the Basingstoke branch will be shutting its doors in early February.
According to reports, the Basingstoke branch has been in operation for over 50 years and will be holding sales over the next few weeks before its official closure. As for the other stores closing in the new year, they include ones located on Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth, Bolton, Accrington, Diss, Newport, and Oldham.
On the other hand, as WHSmith moves away from the high street and focuses on travel hubs, such as train stations and airports, there are also new stores opening. In fact, according to the company's accounts, travel sales have increased by 15% compared to a 3% decline in high street revenue. This has led to an overall 8% increase in revenue for the business in the past 20 weeks.
In an interview with the BBC, WHSmith's CEO Carl Cowling revealed that the newsagent has invested over £100 million in opening new stores in airports and aims to capture more than 20% of the airport retail market over the next four years in the US and Europe. Kate Hardcastle, the chief executive of retail insights agency, Insight with Passion, also commented on the shift towards travel hubs, stating that they present a "golden opportunity" for WHSmith, especially since the high street has been struggling.
In addition to new store openings, WHSmith has also announced that over 80 of its locations will now sell vinyl records. This is a significant change for the stationery store, as they had stopped selling records over 30 years ago due to a decline in demand. However, with the recent resurgence of vinyl's popularity, WHSmith is jumping on the bandwagon and giving customers the chance to purchase records in-store.
The full list of WHSmith locations where vinyl records will be available includes: Berkhampstead, Bromley, Canterbury, Chester, Crawley, East Kilbride, Epsom, Exeter, Gloucester, Gyle, Henley, High Wycombe, Kingston, Lichfield, Marlborough, Monks Cross, Preston Deepdale, Romford, Salisbury, Watford, White City, York, Jersey, Perth, Stafford, Weston-super-Mare, Northallerton, Douglas, Scarborough, Buxton, Argyle Street, Beeston, Brecon, Brent Cross, Broughton Parc, Bury St Edmunds, Carlisle, Cirencester, Cribbs Causeway, Darlington, Bluewater Park, Deal, Dumfries, Elgin, Ely, Exmouth, Grantham, Great Yarmouth, Hamilton, Harpenden, Haslemere, Hastings, Havant, Haywards Heath, Hempstead Valley, Hereford, Honiton, Leighton Buzzard, Lewisham, Liverpool, Llanelli, Marlow, Monmouth, Morpeth, Newport, Petersfield, Sevenoaks, Meadowhall, Southport, Southsea, Swanage, Taunton, Teesside Retail Park, Temple Fortune, Twickenham, Uckfield, Wallington, Warrington, Wimbledon, and Witney.
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