Dragons’ Den star shuts up shop in ‘unavoidable’ move to save rest of business

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A DRAGONS' Den prima has been forced to adjacent a store aft stepping successful to prevention her business.

The Crafter's Companion store adjacent Chesterfield and tally by Sara Davies was unopen by administrators earlier this month.

The subdivision welcomed successful shoppers for the last clip connected January 7 with the closure seeing 10 members of unit suffer their jobs.

Crafter's Companion, which sells everything from papercraft and creation to sewing and needlecraft, besides has a caput bureau and warehouse successful County Durham which proceed to opeate.

A further subdivision successful Evesham, Worcestershire, remains unfastened arsenic well, the BBC reports.

The closure comes aft Crafter's Companion, acceptable up by Ms Davies portion she was astatine assemblage successful 2005, brought successful administrators earlier this period successful a bid to rescue the business.

Read much connected Store Closures

Ms Davies managed to bargain backmost the institution from administrators, making her a large shareholder again.

But the determination to adjacent the Barlborough branch, which had not been profitable "for rather immoderate time", was made beforehand.

Ms Davies said: "It's ne'er casual making unit redundant, and I recognize wherefore it has travel arsenic a daze to employees but determination was nary mode this could beryllium avoided."

Ms Davies added aft the concern had been rescued from administration, she was focused connected putting her efforts successful to the Evesham store and website.

The closure comes pursuing a turbulent mates of years for Crafter's Companion, with gross dropping implicit 20% successful 2023.

The company's astir caller filed accounts amusement its gross fell from £37.8million successful 2022 to £29.9million successful the 2023 fiscal year.

I won concern from Sara Davies during nail-bitting Dragons’ Den occurrence - this is what she’s truly similar arsenic a concern partner

Commenting connected the determination to bring successful administrators earlier this month, Ms Davies said: "There’s nary concealed that the institution was struggling post-pandemic, and its owners tried to prosecute an enlargement strategy astatine a clip of existent economical uncertainty, which was unluckily unsuccessful - arsenic everyone knows, it’s an unprecedentedly hard clip for galore retail and user businesses.

"However, looking to the future, we person a caller fiscal operation successful spot which means we person managed to prevention the ample bulk of jobs successful the institution – and successful peculiar successful the Northeast of England, and guarantee that we proceed commercialized arsenic a going concern."

Sara Davies joined Dragons' Den successful 2019, replacing Jenny Campbell connected the seventeenth series.

The TV prima was besides a contestant connected BBC's Strictly Come Dancing successful 2021 and was paired with Aljaž Škorjanec.

RETAIL SECTOR STRUGGLES

Crafter's Companion is not the lone retailer struggling crossed the UK.

The assemblage has been deed hard successful caller years arsenic shoppers spell online and crook their backs connected carnal branches.

Soaring inflation has besides dented shoppers' pockets.

The Centre for Retail Research's (CRR) latest investigation suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, unopen for bully successful 2024.

Of those, 11,341 were autarkic shops portion 2,138 were unopen by larger retailers.

The information besides showed implicit fractional the stores that closed past twelvemonth were unopen owed to the store oregon retailer going done insolvency proceedings.

This is erstwhile ceremonial measures are taken to woody with tackling a business's debt.

A big of large chains and brands person gone into medication successful caller years leaving shoppers devastated, including Ted Baker, Wilko and Paperchase.

More closures are expected this twelvemonth arsenic well, with the CRR estimating astir 17,350 retail sites volition adjacent for good.

The Body Shop has already unopen 5 branches successful January, in Exeter, Plymouth, Horsham, Norwich and Sheffield.

Stationer WHSmith is besides closing a full of 17 shops implicit the coming months too.

Retailers closing stores successful 2024

RETAILERS person been deed by soaring ostentation and a downturn successful spending owed to the outgo of surviving crisis.

High vigor costs and a determination to buying online are besides taking their toll.

Some precocious thoroughfare shops person closed owed to businesses opening up successful antithetic locations specified arsenic larger retail parks.

Shops whitethorn besides adjacent owed to a fig of different reasons, specified arsenic rising rents.

We explicate which retailers are closing successful 2024:

Argos - The marque announced plans to close 100 standalone UK branches past year arsenic it looks to determination distant from the precocious thoroughfare and absorption connected expanding its beingness successful supermarkets.
B&Q - The concatenation has implicit 300 shops crossed the UK, with 2 stores closing this twelvemonth owed to leases not being renewed. It has plans to unfastened much successful 2024 too.
Boots - The wellness and quality concatenation announced that it would beryllium closing 300 stores past July. Closures are ongoing and this volition spot the retailer's property reduced from 2,200 to 1,900 shops.
Clintons - Clintons mulled plans to adjacent 38 shops successful a bid to debar insolvency precocious past year. We've listed the stores affected.
Costa Coffee - The caffeine elephantine has astir 2,000 sites nationwide, truthful chances are you'll person 1 adjacent you. The concatenation has unopen the doors to dozens of its sites recently. We've revealed which stores are owed to adjacent this year.
Iceland - The supermarket has much than 900 stores but closed astir 2 twelve sites successful 2023, and more selected shops are owed to shut.
Lidl - The supermarket, which has 950 stores, is changing up store locations, which has meant that some stores person to close. But the retailer is besides looking to open 12 caller supermarkets.
M&S - M&S, which runs 405 stores crossed the country, has been closing a string of branches crossed the state successful a stroke for shoppers. It's not each atrocious news, though, due to the fact that the concatenation besides has large plans to open dozens of caller shops.
Trespass - The steadfast announced successful July past twelvemonth that it was closing six branches, but more are connected the way.
WHSmith - The retail giant, which runs implicit 1,100 stores, has unopen 8 stores since March 2023, but more are coming.

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