Cath Kidston has left Newcastle, after the company’s Grainger Street store closed on Sunday 15th March.
The store opened in November 2012, and was a statement of the time. A spokesperson said that Cath Kidston rapidly expanded 10 years ago and that many of the leases for these stores are coming up for renewal. They went on to say that this provides the opportunity to relocate stores or add new branches in order to best serve the customers. But it is yet to be announced why the Grainger Street shop has closed.
Management at the shop have been unable to comment on the closure of the Grainger Street store, however there is a sign which stands outside the main entrance and simply reads: “Farewell Newcastle, it is time for us to go”. Despite the closure of this store, Cath Kidston’s Metrocentre branch remains open, and it is still unknown as to whether the closure will result in job losses or if members of staff will be transferred to the Metrocentre store.
It is not the first chain which the company has shut. Earlier this year it closed its Essex branch, and last August, the Harrogate store shut. Cath Kidston is also not the first branch of a big company which has been closed on Grainger Street, as recently both Starbucks and Patisserie Valerie’s shops are now shut. Local businesses are also facing closure as before Christmas, the independent food retailer MMM and Glug said that “crippling” business rates were partially to blame as they had to shut suddenly. The owners Simone and Ian Clarkin said in a statement posted on Twitter that it was costing them around £100,000 a year to simply just open the doors. Having already had so many closures, Grainger Street could end up seeing even more stores closing.
