The Beales retailer banner is set to disappear for good. The department store retailer is closing in Poole, Dorset, citing increased government-introduced costs to the tune of £200,000.
Staff have already been informed of the Dolphin Centre store’s closure at the end of May, with Beales’ CEO Tony Brown saying: “It is with deep regret that today we have had to inform our team that the store will be closing.
“[Due] to the recent National Insurance increases, the National Minimum Wage increase and the reduction of business rates relief to 40%, approximately £200,000 has been added to our costs, which makes the business unviable.
“This, coupled with the risks and uncertainty of further tax increases in the coming years, have left us no other option. We have been working with the Dolphin Centre, who have been supportive, along with our investors to ensure an orderly exit.
“Our people have been the backbone of the business, and we were confident in the future until the new budget was announced.”
John Grinnell, Centre Manager of The Dolphin added: “We’re very sorry to see Beales go after so many years at The Dolphin. No future plans have been confirmed for the space that Beales will be leaving vacant.”
Beales was one of Britain’s oldest department stores after trading for more than 140 years, first opening in Bournemouth in 1881. It went into administration in January 2020 and, following the pandemic, it closed 22 of its remaining 23 branches in March that year.
Meanwhile, the former Beales department store site in Peterborough city centre has been sold for £4 million. The historic building in Westgate, which went on the market in January 2024, has been sold to a private investor. The identity of the new owner has not been revealed.
