Major charity shop chain shuts three high street stores as 47 at risk of closure

Major shop chain has closed three of its stores this month - and more are set to follow. The charity's shop in Newport, Wales, shut on April 5, while a Southampton store and Atherstone branch closed on April 11 and April 12, respectively.

Scope - which is one of the largest disability charities in England and Wales - warned back in January that it could close a number of its 138 high street stores due to rising costs and declining footfalls.

Charity shops are retail outlets selling mainly donated goods to raise funds for their parent charities and they have been a staple of the British high street for decades.

Most charity shops have a paid shop manager, working with a team of volunteers who help to sort and sell stock. Although, some charity shops are entirely run by volunteers.

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At the time of the announcement, Scope's chief executive Mark Hodgkinson said external factors had “made trading harder”, particularly noting rising rents, higher energy costs, increased staff costs and the cost of living impacting customer's spending habits. The charity is in consultation until March after facing a £1.5million loss this financial year.

He said: "As a result, and to ensure our funds are best focused upon our charitable purpose, we have let our teams know that we will be putting forward proposals to close some of our shops, in stages, over the next 18 months.”

A further 43 Scope stores are set to close between now and March 31, 2026, while a further four will shut in the 2026/27 financial year. The final phase of five more shops would shut when their leases come up for renewal or when there is a break. This is in addition to 24 sites which have ceased trading since the start of the year.

During the consultation period, six Scope charity shops closed their doors, and by the end of March, 18 more were shut. These are the 18 shops that ceased trading before March 31:

• Amersham
• Barking
• Bangor
• Birkenhead
• Bishop Auckland
• Castleford
• Devizes
• Dewsbury
• Eastbourne
• Haywards Heath
• Lewisham
• New Milton
• Orpington
• Parkstone
• Scunthorpe
• Shirley (Southampton)
• Skipton
• Workington

These are the six shops that closed during the consultation period:

• Bexhill
• Hertford
• Mitcham
• Petersfield
• Scarborough
• Worthing

Of the remaining 47 branches to close, Scope has said five will shut in May, but has not revealed the locations. The locations for the remaining 42 stores earmarked for closure are also yet to be revealed.

Debbie Boylen, head of at Scope, said: "Our shops have helped us raise vital income to support our work with disabled people and their families.

“We know our teams put in their very best efforts, but our shops are collectively now losing when taking account of all of their costs. A number make strong profits but there are loss making shops too. We never take the decision to close our stores lightly."

She added: "We know they (staff) feel passionately about playing their part in our work, creating an equal future with disabled people. We will be doing everything we can to support them and our decision does not reflect their hard work and dedication to Scope."

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