River Island announces list of stores set to close

​Fashion chain River Island has revealed the location of the 33 stores it’s planning to close as it launches a restructuring plan aimed to get it back on track.

The retailer currently operates 230 stores and in addition to the 33 already earmarked to shut, around 70 more are believed to be at risk, although their locations aren’t yet known. Their fate depends on the willingness of landlords to negotiate on rents.

Based on the 33 closures — which will happen in January — hundreds of jobs could go, but the full number of at-risk stores would take job losses to well over a thousand.

The confirmed closures are happening across the UK and include some major shopping destinations that observers might have expected to be very successful for River island.

The stores are in Beckton, Bangor Bloomfield, Wrexham, Edinburgh Princes Street, Hereford, Surrey Quays, Didcot, Sutton Coldfield, Aylesbury, Burton-Upon-Trent, Northwich, Taunton, Workington, Falkirk, Cumbernauld, Kirkcaldy, Gloucester, Hartlepool, Brighton, Lisburn, Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Kilmarnock, Hanley, Barnstaple, Grimsby, Leeds Birstall Park, Rochdale, Great Yarmouth, St Helens, Stockton On Tees and Perth.