WHSmith will be closing nine more stores in April and May following its major announcement that it has sold its entire high street store portfolio. Since the start of the year, 10 WHSmith stores have already closed across the UK, including locations in Dorset, Basingstoke, Manchester and Lancashire.
The company has announced it will be forever closing about 480 stores after being sold in a £76 million deal. The UK retailer, which has been a UK staple for over 200 years, has agreed a deal with Modella Capital, the owner of Hobbycraft, which will acquire the high street stores and rebrand them under the name TGJones. The sale, however, excludes WHSmith’s travel locations, meaning those in airports and train stations and the WHSmith name has not been sold.
The next WHSmith closures will take place across the UK including in Essex, West Midlands, Diss, Newport, Haverhill, Woolwich, Stockton, Oldham, and Doncaster.
The Orpington store in Greater London will also be closing its doors, although no date as been set yet.
Modella Capital will take over the stores, along with 5,000 staff and plans to introduce new product ranges while retaining some of the WHSmith key services like the Post Office counters.
WHSmith group chief executive Carl Cowling said: "As we continue to deliver on our strategic ambition to become the leading global travel retailer, this is a pivotal moment for WHSmith as we become a business exclusively focused on travel.
"As our travel business has grown, our UK high street business has become a much smaller part of the WHSmith Group."
