Iceland is closing another branch this month in the latest blow to Britain's high street. The British supermarket chain will be pulling down the shutters on its Rose Street branch in Inverness for good on July 12, The Sun reports.
It follows the closure of Iceland's Margate branch on the Kent Town's College Square June 21. The latest closure means there will no longer be a branch in Inverness, with fans of the store now having to travel to Aberdeen to visit their nearest store.
Iceland has yet to offer an explanation for why store is closing. Express.co.uk has approached the chain for comment via email.
Iceland previously closed its store in Shenley Road in Borehamwood, and another in Alphington Road Retail Park, Exeter, in January.
Prior to that, Iceland revealed that it would be shutting its 10 stores in the Channel Islands due to a new franchise agreement, meaning its product ranges would be sold in Alliance branches.
Iceland had almost 980 stores in the UK as of February 26 this year, according to data firm ScrapeHero.
Most are in England, where around 80% were located at that time.
The latest announcement comes amid a raft of closures as major retailers and high street banks shift towards their online services.
Halifax, Natwest, and Lloyds are set to start closing 82 branches starting from today as part of efforts to scale back their network of physical locations.
Meanwhile, Iceland announced last month that it's installing facial recognition technology at checkouts as part of a trial aimed at cracking down on theft and violence against staff.
Two of the supermarket chain's branches are testing the cameras, which check shoppers' faces against a database of known offenders. Alerts are sent to staff if there's a match.
More of the tech could be rolled out to other Iceland shops if the trial proves successful. The Facewatch system is used by other retailers, like Home Bargains, B&M, and Frasers Group.
An Iceland spokesperson said, "Following a robust due diligence process, we can confirm our facial recognition trial is now live in two stores and will expand further this year."
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