Bargain supermarket chain with 300 stores to shut bustling branch in just HOURS as huge closing down sale launched

The Sun

21-06-2025

A BARGAIN supermarket chain is shutting down one of its 300 stores in just hours.
The budget frozen food and grocery store has launched a closing down sale with all remaining stock at discounted prices.
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Farmfoods, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, is closing its doors for the final time tomorrow after 20 years of serving the community.
Locals flocked to the social media to express their sadness over the latest news.
One person wrote: "A blow for savvy Ilkeston shoppers - Farmfoods in the precinct is closing.
"It will be missed by many people, and the pleasant, helpful staff will be out of a job.
"Shops like this are a lifeline to many folk."
A third person said: "It will be a sad day to see another shop closing.
"It always seems to be busy though so it makes no sense."
Someone else added: "Oh what a shame, it will be sorely missed."
However, it is not all bad news.
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The Scottish retailer, founded in Aberdeen in 1954, plans to open a new store in Codnor which promises to be "one of the largest" in the UK.
A spokesperson for Farmfoods previously said: "I can confirm we have commenced development with the intention of opening a new shop at Market Place, Codnor at the junction with Nottingham Road and Heanor Road.
"The land was formerly occupied by the French Horn public house.
"The new shop will be one of our largest in the country and offer our full range of branded and own-brand products, including frozen food, groceries, chilled foods, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, along with a range of household and other items."
The exact opening date is yet to be confirmed but it is said to be in August.
This follows the news that Poundland has confirmed plans to shut 68 stores, with up to 150 at risk of closure.
The struggling discount chain was sold for just £1 last week and it was expected a major shake-up would be needed to rescue it.
Poundland has now announced a huge series of changes aimed at keeping itself afloat - although these will need to be approved by the High Court in August.
They include ditching its frozen food items, getting rid of its loyalty scheme app and no longer selling products online.
The Original Factory Shop has also recently launched another closing-down sale as the brand pulls the shutters on another store.
The discount department store has slashed the prices on everything, from clothing to gardening tools to toys.
Clothing rails have been tagged with percentage-off signs as high as 30 per cent off.
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."