River Island’s store closure programme will move into high gear within weeks as 33 stores will close by the end of January under the chain’s court-approved restructuring plan.
Photo: Sandra Halliday
The plan should also see it starting to pay reduced rents for 71 of its current 200+ chain. That could include up to three years of rent cuts or even no rents being paid for some River Island stores.
Its restructuring plan was approved earlier this year amid dire warnings that the business might collapse if the restructuring process didn’t go through.
Only this month the fashion retailer’s newly-filed accounts showed that River Island Holdings Limited made a loss before tax of £124.3 million in 2024, much wider than the £32.2 million loss of the year before. That came as turnover fell to £690.1 million from £701.5 million.
At the hearing for its restructuring plan in August, its legal team told the court that external pressures meant it hadn’t been able to reverse the downward trend.
The stores that will close within weeks are: Aylesbury, Bangor Bloomfield, Barnstaple, Beckton, Brighton, Burton-Upon-Trent, Cumbernauld, Didcot, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Gloucester, Great Yarmouth, Grimsby, Hanley, Hartlepool, Hereford, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Leeds Birstall Park, Lisburn, Northwich, Norwich, Oxford, Perth, Poole, Rochdale, St Helens, Surrey Quays, Sutton Coldfield, Taunton, Workington, and Wrexham.
