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River Island confirms closure dates for stores in the Midlands

Closure dates have been confirmed for River Island’s stores in Sutton Coldfield and Hanley in Staffordshire.

By Beverly Rademacher
Published

The fashion chain is closing 32 outlets this month including its Sutton Coldfield branch in the Gracechurch Shopping Centre, which will close its doors for good on Sunday January 18.

The Hanley store, in The Potteries Centre, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, is also set to close on January 24.

The store closures are part of a High Court sanctioned restructuring plan that was approved in August to help save the British brand after it reported a £32.3m pre-tax loss.

The restructure, which rubber stamped 33 shop closures and attempts to seek rent reductions at 71 locations, was approved to prevent the business from going into administration.

A staple on the British high street, River Island employs around 5,500 people and has stores across the Midlands including in Walsall, Merry Hill, West Bromwich, Birmingham’s Bullring, Birmingham Fort, Stafford Riverside and Telford.

The chain’s flagship Wolverhampton city store, which had a unique exterior with floor-to-ceiling glass frontages and a distinctive glassed tower, closed on September 19.

Ben Lewis, CEO of River Island, said after a court hearing in summer 2025 that the restructuring plan would "ensure the long-term viability of the business".

Full list of store closures in January and known closure dates:

  • Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire - January 18

  • Bangor Bloomfield, Northern Ireland - January 24

  • Barnstaple, Devon - January 31

  • Beckton, Greater London - January 31

  • Brighton, East Sussex

  • Burton-Upon-Trent, Derbyshire - January 18

  • Cumbernauld, Scotland - January 24

  • Didcot, Oxfordshire - January 31

  • Edinburgh Princes Street, Scotland

  • Falkirk, Scotland - January 31

  • Gloucester, Gloucestershire - January 31

  • Great Yarmouth

  • Grimsby, Lincolnshire - January 31

  • Hanley, Staffordshire - January 24

  • Hartlepool, County Durham - January 24

  • Hereford, Herefordshire - January 31

  • Kilmarnock, Scotland - January 24

  • Kirkcaldy, Scotland - January 31

  • Leeds Birstall Park, West Yorkshire - January 18

  • Lisburn, Northern Ireland - January 18

  • Northwich, Cheshire - January 24

  • Norwich, Norfolk - TBC

  • Oxford, Oxfordshire - January 31

  • Perth, Scotland - January 18

  • Poole, Dorset - January 31

  • Rochdale, Greater Manchester - January 31

  • St Helens, Merseyside - January 24

  • Surrey Quays, Greater London - January 18

  • Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands - January 18

  • Taunton, Somerset - January 18

  • Workington, Cumbria - TBC 

  • Wrexham, Wales - January 18