A BELOVED retailer in a popular high street is shutting up shop for good — but not before launching a huge 50% off sale.
Bimbi, the children’s clothing boutique, Bury St Edmunds, has confirmed it will close its doors for the final time on April 26.
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The store first opened in 2023, set up by mum-of-three Rozina Hajdarmetaj to bring stylish kidswear to the local high street.
But after nearly two years of trading, shoppers were met with the sad news displayed in the shop window — along with details of its big closing down sale.
Everything in store is now half price, giving bargain hunters the chance to snap up deals before it’s gone for good.
The retailer is also still offering online shopping and click and collect until its last day of trading.
A heartfelt message on the shopfront reads: “We want to thank you for all your support, we will miss you.”
High street woes
The news comes as other retailers, both independent and industry giants, continue to struggle.
Dozens of shops are set to close across the country before the end of the month in the latest blow to UK high streets.
Just a few months in to 2025 and it’s already proving to be another tough year for many major brands.
Rising living costs – which mean shoppers have less cash to burn – and an increase in online shopping has battered retail in recent years.
In some cases, landlords are either unwilling or unable to invest in keeping shops open, further speeding up the closures.
Last month, Essential Vintage told followers on social that it would be closing down after they had been “priced out” because of bigger players in the market such as Vinted.
Whilst, Red Menswear in Chatham in Medway, Kent, shut for the final time on Saturday, March 29, after selling men’s clothing since 1999.
Shoezone, located on Devonshire Road, has confirmed it’s final day of trading will be May 13.
New Look bosses made the decision to axe nearly 100 branches as they battle challenges linked to Autumn Budget tax changes.
Approximately a quarter of the retailer’s 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire.
This equates to about 91 stores, with a significant impact on New Look’s 8,000-strong workforce.
It’s understood the latest drive to accelerate closures is driven by the upcoming increase in National Insurance contributions for employers.
The move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October, is expected to hit retailers hard – and the British Retail Consortium has predicted these changes will create a £2.3billion bill for the sector.
Meanwhile, the WHSmith brand name looks set to vanish from British high streets after 230 years.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
