Beloved shoe shop chain loved by James Blunt to shut store after 40 years on the high street
A BELOVED shoe shop chain loved by James Blunt is set to shut one of its stores after 40 years on the high street.
Blunts Shoes announced its store on Granby Street in Leicester's city centre will close at the end of March.
The footwear chain was first established in 1865 and had operated the store in the heart of the East Midlands' largest city for four decades.
Pop star James Blunt had brought the store to fame after he previously joked about it ahead of a performance in the city in 2023.
It made the announcement in a post on Facebook that read: "After 40 wonderful years, we are sad to announce the closing of our Blunts Shoes Leicester store.
"It has been an honour to serve this community, and we are truly grateful for your support and loyalty over the years.
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"Please continue to support us at our Blunts Shoes Leicester Store which is confirmed to close at the end of March."
The firm's head office in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said that footfall had been a factor in the decision to close the store.
Fans of the shop were quick to express their sadness, commenting under Blunts' Facebook .
Many described the announcement as "sad news", tagging their friends to share the message.
The chain operates 10 other stores across the region under both the Blunts name and as United Footwear.
It comes after a host of independent retailers shuttered branches in 2024, based on recently published data.
The Centre for Retail Research's latest analysis showed 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut their doors for good last year.
It found that over 11,300 of those were independent stores - a 45.5% jump on 2023.
The British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) said small businesses weathered one of their most challenging years in 2024.
Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer, said: "2024 has presented unprecedented challenges for independent retailers.
"Consumer spending on non-food items has declined significantly, while persistent footfall problems and fragile consumer confidence have impacted high streets nationwide."
Mr Goodacre added smaller businesses were struggling in an "increasingly competitive" market, with larger chains able to massively discount stock, and for longer periods.
Among the independent stores to close in 2024 was Mortens in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, which shuttered for good last month.
Family-run Dancers, in Halesowen, also closed in December after opening for the first time over a century ago.
Bosses across the retail sector are warning they may have to increase prices on products in 2025 too, following the Government's Autumn Budget.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed employer National Insurance contributions will be hiked for businesses from 13.8% to 15% from April.
Fears have also been raised the hike in employer NICs will hit workers as businesses stop hiring new staff, don't offer pay rises or even let staff go or close stores to cut costs.
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Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.