‘Such sad news’ sob shoppers as DIY store launches closing down sale after half a century on high street
A BELOVED independent DIY store is closing down after half a century.
Shoppers in the town of Builth Wells, Powys, are heartbroken after the store’s owners announced they would be shutting its doors for good.
Nibletts Mica, a DIY shop in Builth Wells, Powys, is closing down after half a century serving its locals.Facebook / Nibletts Mica
Home and garden store Nibletts Mica broke the news on Facebook, sparking misery among the town’s residents.
It has since launched a 30% sale on all of its products, which will be in place for as long as stock lasts.
The store told locals: “After well over half a century of serving the community, we regret to announce Nibletts Mica Hardware will be closing its doors.”
It blamed increased strain caused by the cost of living crisis and falling footfall on high streets for the decision, and thanked customers for their “loyal support over many years”.
It wrote: “Falling sales and greatly increased costs over recent years intensified by changes to rates and recent NI increases have made the books increasingly difficult to balance.
“We have been inundated with kind messages of support for which we were so appreciative, but this did not translate in terms of trade, sales were sadly down in the last six weeks of 2024.”
The post was flooded with emotional comments, with one person writing: “Very sad news. I’ve bought allsorts from Builth Nibletts in my 13yrs in this area. Always so friendly & helpful. You will be missed.”
Another local said: “Really sorry to see you go. It’s a great little shop important to the community.
“Unfortunately the government doesn’t understand that high energy costs and high NI is crucifying businesses and they haven’t helped people like you at all. Whatever you do next I wish you the very best.”
A third resident chimed in: “Yeah this is horrendous, just a horrible reminder that so many people are struggling right now and we don’t really get to see too much of it in this area so are relatively lucky. Sad.”
It comes as a number of other independent retailers have also buckled under rising costs and slow sales.
For example, boutique pre-loved clothing store, The Closet at Harker, drew its blinds at the end of last year.
All Types Electrical in Rotherham also shut for good after over five decades of trade on Christmas Eve.
We recently revealed a full list of independent shops that had closed their doors at the start of the year because of various pressures.
A host of other chain retailers are closing stoors over the next few months, although this could be for a number of reasons.
Card Zone is set to close its Scunthorpe site in April and another store in Stroud, Gloucestershire next month.
Shoe Zone has also closed a raft of stores and is expected to close more this year, having shrunk from around 320 stores in May 2024 to just 297 by the New Year.
Anthony Smith, Shoezone’s Chief Executive, said: “Shoezone has experienced very challenging trading conditions, principally a weakening of consumer confidence and unseasonal weather, both of which have decreased revenue and profit.
“Consumer confidence has weakened further following the Government’s budget in October 2024.”
Meanwhile, Homebase has launched closing down sales across the country.
The garden and homeware retailer fell into administration last month, but around 70 stores were rescued by CDS Superstores, the owner of The Range and Wilko.
Just this year, the chain has lost 34 branches across the UK.
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.”
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