The chain stationery shop and book seller, WHSmith, has closed its location on Old Church Road in Bournemouth town centre.
The store did its final bit of business on January 18th.
Following the summer closure of the Boscombe branch on Christchurch Road in June, this will be the second branch to close in as many months.
Lifelong Bournemouth resident Peter Carter said, “I used to spend a lot of my youth in there… every weekend mum would bring us down and we’d always go in WHSmith’s and you’d always end up buying something”.
He continued “It’s a bit of a shock that something that’s been around for so long, all of my life, is suddenly not viable and it’s going”
Carl Cowling, the CEO of WHSmith, said in November that the company will face a £7 million cost impact from the new government’s Budget decision to increase national insurance contributions.
Cowling said that the additional expense for the following year would be on top of a £13 million increase in its payroll bill as a consequence of the budget’s anticipated hike in the minimum wage.
Another branch of WHSmith located on Wimborne Road in Winton has also confirmed that it will be closing amid a 50 percent off clearance sale. The retailer is set to close the Winton store on February 1st.
With the addition of the Wimborne Road shop’s closure in February, WHSmith will have closed three of its retail stores in Bournemouth within less than a year.
Superdrug Bournemouth centre has officially closed down