BRIDGEND: TGJones closing-down posters go up in the Rhiw, the second of the region’s seven at-risk stores to go

Closing-down posters went up in the windows of TGJones at Bridgend’s Rhiw Shopping Centre last week, the centre said on Tuesday. They offer up to 30% off, “this store only”, and say everything must go.

“It’s never great to see these posters in any business’s window,” the centre posted, adding that if there was a positive it was that “the store team have been inundated with concern and compassion from their loyal customers”.

“Remember they are all local people, who shop local and they are very much part of our community.”

The seven, and now two

Bridgend was one of seven TGJones branches across south-west Wales left waiting on landlord rent deals when the High Court approved the chain’s restructuring on 1 July, alongside the Quadrant in Swansea, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Neath, Haverfordwest and Tenby.

Tenby’s closing-down signs went up in August, making it the first visible casualty. Bridgend is the second. The chain has not announced a closure or a closing date for either store.

Up to 150 of the chain’s stores are expected to close under the plan, with rents cut by between 15% and 75% and landlords who refuse the new terms free to end their leases instead.

Still WHSmith to half the town

The stores were rebranded TGJones after Modella Capital bought WHSmith‘s high street business last year in a £76m deal that required the 234-year-old name to go. Judging by the comments under the Rhiw’s post, plenty in Bridgend hadn’t noticed: one asked whether it was still WHSmith, and another said the closure was predictable once the chain changed its business model.

Most of the replies were for the staff, described as chatty, welcoming and always happy to help, with several wishing them well and one pointing them to Careers Wales’s ReAct redundancy support. A minority had less sympathy for the prices, and one predicted another vape shop.

What staff face

The chain employs 4,700 people and hundreds of jobs are expected to go. WH Smith refused to fund enhanced redundancy payments under the plan, leaving staff who lose their jobs on the statutory minimum.

In court in July, the retailer’s counsel told the judge the business was “highly distressed” and “running on fumes”.

The Rhiw Centre has not said when the store will close. Of the remaining five at-risk branches, the Quadrant, Neath and Carmarthen stores also host Post Office counters.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.