New blow for Highlands' biggest shopping centre as another retailer closes its doors
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The continued impact of the Covid crisis on the retail sector has dealt another blow to Inverness city centre and the Eastgate shopping mall with the news that chocolate maker Thorntons is to close all its retail stores.
The Inverness branch will now join a list of Eastgate businesses including department store Debenhams and Top Shop/Top Man which have become casualties and a changing retail environment.
Thorntons' Inverness branch is one of a total of 61 stores which will not now reopen after lockdown, putting more than 600 jobs at risk.
The company, which is now owned by Italian food giant Ferrero following a £112 million buyout in 2015, revealed it had been particularly hard hit by the loss of opportunity to trade at Christmas and Easter – normally its busiest times of the year.
Announcing the decision on its website, the 110-year old business stated: "Like many companies, we have been operating for a long time in a tough and challenging retail environment. We have been committed to transforming and growing a successful Thorntons retail estate; this has included significant investments to open new format stores and cafés and ensuring we had stores in the right locations.
"However, changing dynamics of the high street, shifting customer behaviour to online, the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the numerous lockdown restrictions over the last year – especially during our key trading periods at Easter and Christmas – has meant we have been operating in the most challenging circumstances.
"Unfortunately like many other retailers, the obstacles we have faced and will continue to face on the high street are too severe. Despite our best efforts we have taken the difficult decision to go into full consultation to start the permanent closure of our retail store estate. We understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time for our colleagues and we will actively support them during this period."
News of Thorntons' store closures came the same day as research by PwC revealed more than 1200 chain stores closed in Scotland in 2020, with just 612 openings, resulting in a 4.1 per cent overall drop in store numbers.
The research found that hopping centres in Scotland felt the biggest impact in percentage terms with a 7.4 per cent reduction in stores.
Jason Higgs, head of retail for PwC Scotland commented: "Worryingly, the real impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt as some stores ‘temporarily closed’ during lockdowns, but considered as open in the research, are unlikely to ever welcome customers again.
“As we hopefully emerge from lockdown, operators will simply be aiming to survive rather than flourish.”
