Retail lost close to 13,500 stores in 2024, study finds
The number of shops owned by independent retailers that shuttered in 2024 was up 45.5% year on year
Nearly 13,500 shops shut for good in 2024, according to data from the Centre for Retail Research.
This is a 28.4% increase on the 10,494 which closed in the calendar year of 2023.
More than half of all stores closed, 7,537 in total, were closed through retailers undergoing some form of insolvency proceedings.
A further 5,942 shops were closed through “rationalisation” as part of cost cutting programs by large retailers or independents simply shutting up shop for good.
Independent retailers, typically those small businesses with 1 to 5 stores, accounted for 84.1% of all store closures during 2024.
In the previous calendar year independents were responsible for 74.5% or 7,793 of all store closures.
The number of shops owned by independent retailers that shuttered in 2024 was up 45.5% year on year.
The Centre for Retail Research stated that it expects store closures to rise to around 17,350 during 2025 with around 14,660 coming from independent retailers.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, Centre for Retail Research director, said: “Last year we said that the improvement in the figures for store closure was best seen as ‘less bad’ rather than ‘good’ and not one that reflected any strength in the sector.”
Whilst the results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting with worse set to come in 2025.”