TODAY is the last day to nab massive savings on shoes as a popular brand pulls its shutter for the last time.
The brand launched a giant 70% off “final clearance” sale both in store and online.
Shoe store Irregular Choice launched a final clearance sale as it prepares to close this weekend[/caption]
Regarded as a nostalgic UK business, the shoe company has collapsed after 26 years.
This quirky shoe brand was started by owner and designer Dan Sullivan in 1999.
Since then, Irregular Choice has been stocked in stores across the globe.
Sullivan took to social media to share the news, announcing the store will close in a matter of days.
He posted a video to on September 11 announcing that he “had a very difficult and important message to share”.
Clearance sale
The store on Bond Street, Brighton will have its final day of trading on Sunday, September 28.
And if you’re scrambling to get a deal before the day ends, don’t worry.
According to Sullivan, the Irregular Choice website will wind down and “cease taking orders” shortly after the store’s closure.
Originally setting out to help people “stand out from the crowd”, Sullivan said his small business has been “quietly fighting hard behind the scenes”.
He detailed some of the “significant challenges” the company has faced in recent years.
These included the “impact of the pandemic, the changing retail landscape, rising costs, and economic uncertainty”.
The business’ main distributor also went into liquidation, owing Irregular Choice a “huge amount of money”.
Sullivan attributed the closure of his company to this “perfect storm”.
“I’d like to thank all of our amazing staff, past and present, who have gone above and beyond to keep the wheels turning for over 26 years,” he added.
“They will always have my personal admiration and appreciation.”
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “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.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
RETAIL SECTOR STRUGGLES
The retail sector has struggled since the onset of online shopping and the coronavirus pandemic.
Higher inflation since 2022 has also hit shoppers’ budgets while businesses have struggled with higher wage, tax and energy costs.
The Centre for Retail Research has described the sector as going through a “permacrisis” since the 2008 financial crash.
Figures from the Centre also show 34 retail companies operating multiple stores stopped trading in 2024, leading to the closure of 7,537 shops.
More closures
Last month, Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading.
The new owners are now asking the court for permission to close 68 stores and negotiate lower rents on others, with up to 82 more stores potentially shutting in the future.
Both Hobbycraft and The Original Factory Shop are also shutting branches as part of restructuring efforts.
