The shop is a British high street classic (Picture: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock)

WHSmith has announced it will be closing the doors of multiple shops before the end of the year in the latest blow to high street stores.

Branches have already been closed in Scotland, Kent, Manchester, with more projected to follow.

The stationery store previously announced plans to open 110 new branches this year, in airports, railway stations and hospitals, where profits were higher than in their high street stores.

In another move to revamp their stores, they said they will begin selling vinyl records again in response to a growing trend among shoppers, after thirty years off their shelves.

WHSmith will also stock Toys R Us products in 76 of their sites by the end of the year, an iconic toy shop that disappeared from the nation almost ten years ago.

Which stores have already closed this year?

This is the full list of store closures and closing dates:

Alfreton, Derbyshire – January, 2024
Ramsgate, Kent – January, 2024
Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland – February, 2024
Nantwich, South Cheshire February, 2024
Margate, Kent April 20, 2024
Sale, Manchester September 2024
Bournemouth October, 2024The affected stores are spread out across Britain (Picture: Getty Images)

Which stores are closing in the future?

WHSmith has announced their Basingstoke branch will be closing in early 2025.

The stationery store inside The Malls shopping centre has been there for more 50 years, the Basingstoke Gazette reported.

The shop is holding sales over the next few weeks ahead of its closure next year on February 1.

According to the local paper, some stock is being sold off with 30% slashed off its prices.

Which stores are opening?

There are some new stores opening as WHSmith moves away from the high street to instead focus around travel hubs, such as train stations and airports.

According to its company accounts, travel sales grew by 15% over the same time frame compared to a 3% fall in revenue for its high street portfolio.

Revenue across the business meanwhile had risen by 8% over the 20 weeks to January 20, in comparison to the same period the previous year.

This means for WHSmith, it is more profitable for them to open stores in travel hubs, as they can make more money than on the high streets.

The shops will be popping up around travel hubs, rather than high streets (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It previously pledge to open 15 stores in 2024, with an additional 15 after that ‘each year over the medium term.’

Speaking to the BBC, WHSmiths CEO Carl Cowling said the newsagent had spent more than £100 million opening new stores in airports, and aimed to capture over 20% of the airport retail market over the next four years in the US and Europe.

Kate Hardcastle, chief executive of retail insights agency, Insight with Passion, added that airports and service stations were a golden opportunity for WH Smith, after they had been dwindling on High Streets.

As more of us now travel with technology we are all the more likely to forget essentials, all much more of a selling opportunity than the odd bottle of water.

A retailer like WH Smith is going to see the value in investing and building a new captive airport audience than a challenged High Street, she added.

Which stores will stock vinyls?

Music fans will soon be able to pick up records in more than 80 WHSmith sites across the nation.

The newsagent initially stopped selling vinyls over thirty years ago, when demand for the product slowed.

But since 2006, sales have started to increase as some people pivoted to a more vintage way of listening to music, while others switched from CDs to iTunes and streaming.

Sales for the classic music product grew for the 16th year in a row last year, with over six million sold.

Emma Smyth, commercial director of the newsagent said: After thirty years vinyl is back at WHSmith,

I’m sure there are many customers out there who remember spending hours in record shops browsing the latest vinyl LPs and the artistic record covers.

Its no surprise that vinyl is growing in popularity again, and we are very excited to be bringing back record selections to more than 80 different stores across the UK for both seasoned fans and new listeners alike, she added.

Where can you buy a vinyl in WH Smith?

The full list of WHSmith locations where you can purchase a vinyl is as follows:

Berkhampstead
Bromley
Canterbury
Chester
Crawley
East Kilbride
Epsom
Exeter
Gloucester
Gyle
Henley
High Wycombe
Kingstonis:
Lichfield
Marlborough
Monks Cross
Preston Deepdale
Romford
Salisbury
Watford
White City
York
Jersey
Perth
Stafford
Weston-super-Mare
Northallerton
Douglas
Scarborough
Buxton
Argyle Street
Beeston
Brecon
Brent Cross
Broughton Parc
Bury St Edmunds
Carlisle
Cirencester
Cribbs Causeway
Darlington
Bluewater Park
Deal
Dumfries
Elgin
Ely
Exmouth
Grantham
Great Yarmouth
Hamilton
Harpenden
Haslemere
Hastings
Havant
Haywards Heath
Hempstead Valley
Hereford
Honiton
Leighton Buzzard
Lewisham
Liverpool
Llanelli
Marlow
Monmouth
Morpeth
Newport (Isle of Wight)
Petersfield
Sevenoaks
Meadowhall
Southport
Southsea
Swanage
Taunton
Teesside Retail Park
Temple Fortune
Twickenham
Uckfield
Wallington
Warrington
Wimbledon
Witney

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