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A HUGE high street retailer has launched a 20 per cent off going out of business sale with just weeks left until the store shuts for good.

The hugely popular town centre video game shop is due to close down in a matter of weeks it has announced.

Google MapsThe store now has signs in the window announcing its imminent closure[/caption]

AlamySeveral GAME stores have closed across the UK recently[/caption]

GAME, in Festival Place, Basingstoke, suddenly announced it will be closing down next month.

The retailer will be holding a 20 per cent off everything closing down sale before shutting up shop for good on August 10.

GAME sells a variety of video games, consoles and pop culture merchandise.

The retailer came under fire recently when it cancelled pre-orders of heavily anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 consoles.

Its Basingstoke location is now due to close for good with signs seen in the window announcing the closure.

No reason has been given for the retailers abrupt departure from the shopping centre.

Products including popular video games and Lego sets have had their stock prices reduced.

Retailer GAME, which specialises in consoles, games and accessories was acquired by Frasers Group in 2019 as part of a £52 million deal.

The retailer has closed a number of locations across the UK in recent months.

Signs in the window of the Basingstoke store read: “This store will cease trading on 10th August.

“Please shop online at Game.co.uk.”

A number of GAME stores have closed with some being converted into concessions within Sports Direct and other Frasers Group stores.

Locals have been left disappointed by the news of the Basingstoke location’s closure.

Following Frasers Group acquiring GAME in 2019 significant restructuring and downsizing of the video game retailer has commenced.

While plans don’t indicate that the stores will disappear from the British high street completely many locations are expected to close.

AlamyThe retailer has launched a 20 per cent off all stock closing down sale[/caption]

Google MapsThe store will be sorely missed by locals[/caption]

Downfall of GAME

Game was acquired by billionaire businessman Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group in 2019 as part of a £52million deal.

However, by January 2020, the retailer announced plans to close 40 of its more than 300 stores across the UK.

Today, there are approximately 240 Game stores operating nationwide.

This decline comes amid a significant drop in sales of physical video games, compared to Game’s heyday in the early 2000s.

The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) revealed that in 2022, nearly 90 per cent of all video games sold in the UK were digital downloads.

Why are retailers closing stores?

RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.

High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”