// More than 2750 jobs were lost every week in 2019
// 38,100 of the jobs lost this year were down to retailers filing for administration
// 26,500 roles were shed through CVAs
Over 140,000 jobs have been lost this year as store closures and administrations took a toll on the UK’s high streets, according to new research.
More than 2750 jobs were lost every week, predicting a similar high street crisis for 2020, the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) found.
CRR said that unless the government intervenes, the high street will worsen thanks to high business rates – one of the factors blamed for store closures.
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A total of 143,100 jobs were lost in 2019, according to CRR, up by more than a fifth on 2018’s 117,400 job losses.
A total of 38,100 of the jobs lost this year were down to retailers filing for administration, with Mothercare and Bonmarche among the casualties of 2019.
Another 26,500 roles were shed through CVAs, with Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group and Debenhams among the firms to shed loss-making stores.
Furthermore, 78,600 jobs were axed through cost-cutting programmes by large retailers or small shops closing down.
Marks & Spencer is among the big names closing stores while House of Fraser, which is part of Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, has been shutting outlets.
The CRR also found that 16,073 shops closed around the UK in 2019, or around 61 everyday – an increase on the 14,583 shops which closed in 2018.
“These problems are felt by most businesses operating from physical stores in high streets or shopping malls,” CRR director Joshua Bamfield said.
“The low growth in consumer spending since 2015 has meant that the growth in online sales has come at the expense of the high street.”
However, KPMG found last week that despite the high street pressures, retail administrations had declined by 30 per cent this year compared with 2018, while CVAs significantly increased during the year as retailers were faced with rising rents and business rates.
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