Hobbycraft has announced plans to shut at least nine stores across the UK in a move impacting up to 126 jobs as part of a restructure.
Private equity firm owner Modella Capital is launching the overhaul after purchasing the arts and crafts retailer in August last year.
While the announcement said nine stores will stop trading by mid-July – affecting between 72 and 126 jobs – it added that the future of ‘a number of other stores’ is still under review.
The restructuring will also result in redundancies across its Bournemouth head office and distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent, but it has not yet been revealed how many roles this will affect.
Hobbycraft CEO Alex Wilson said: ‘Hobbycraft is the UK’s leading arts and crafts retailer, with a strong presence across the country and online, fantastic colleagues and loyal and engaged customers.
‘For many our stores are more than just arts and crafts supplies, they have become places for gaining crafting ideas and inspiration.
‘Very sadly, the strength of our offering has not made us immune from the challenges faced by the retail sector in recent years.
‘Closing stores is always a last resort and this has been an extremely difficult decision.
Hobbycraft has announced plans to shut at least nine stores across the UK in a move impacting up to 126 jobs as part of a restructure
While the announcement said nine stores will stop trading by mid-July – affecting between 72 and 126 jobs – it added that the future of ‘a number of other stores’ is still under review (Stock Image)
The restructuring will also result in redundancies across its Bournemouth head office and distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent (above), but it has not yet been revealed how many roles this will affect
‘Making these changes is sadly a necessary action to enable us to keep our doors open to crafters up and down the country.’
Modella, which is also reportedly pursuing a restructuring at The Original Factory Shop business, agreed to buy WHSmith’s high street business earlier this year.
It said the shake-up is intended to secure the future of at least 99 stores and 1,800 jobs across the business.
But the closure of the nine Hobbycraft stores have added an ever-growing list of high street chainsn forced to close stores in the past months.
Poundland has also confirmed that it will be closing three more stores in Liverpool, Kent and London in the coming weeks.
More than 800 of the discount retailer’s shops were put up for sale earlier this year.
And Britain’s high streets have been warned there is ‘worse to come’ this year after more than 13,000 shops closed their doors for good in 2024 – an increase of 28 per cent on the year before.
In another gloomy report, industry experts predicted that 17,350 shops will shut down this year.
Hobbycraft’s head office in Bournemouth (above) is also said to be affected by the move
Poundland has also confirmed that it will be closing three more stores in Liverpool, Kent and London in the coming weeks (Stock Image)
Last week Morrisons also closed more than a dozen of their stores, blaming a rise in national insurance contributions and the minimum wage (Stock Image)
Other retailers including Sports Direct, JD Sports and New Look have also announced shutdowns (Stock Image)
It is the highest figure since the Centre for Retail Research began collecting the data in 2015 and follows the closure of 13,479 stores last year.
Last week Morrisons also closed more than a dozen of their stores, blaming a rise in national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.
WHSmith announced in January that 17 of its branches were set to close this year, following ten store closures in the last two years.
Other retailers including Sports Direct, JD Sports and New Look have also announced shutdowns.
