SWANSEA: River Island’s Oxford Street store now has a closing date

River Island’s Oxford Street store now has a confirmed closing date, with signs in the windows telling shoppers it shuts next month.

A closing-down sale is under way, with 30% off placards alongside the announcement.

“Thanks for shopping with us, we’ve had a blast,” the signs read, giving Saturday 12 September as the final day and directing customers to riverisland.com “and nearby locations”.

The closure was expected in September, with the plans emerging last month.

A staff consultation was under way at that point, and the chain has not said how many jobs are affected.

River Island was approached for comment twice in July and did not provide a comment for publication.

The Oxford Street store’s fate was effectively sealed by last summer’s rescue plan, which involved closing 33 stores and cutting rents across 71 more, with the chain’s Swansea and Llanelli stores among those in the rent-reduction strategy.

The family-owned retailer had warned it could run out of money without the plan, after a £33.2m loss in 2023 on sales down 19%, with a £40m emergency loan from the founding Lewis family unlocked when creditors backed the restructuring.

The store sits directly opposite the former M&S flagship, which closed at the end of May after 69 years on the street, making this the second big-name departure from Oxford Street this year.

The contrast next door is hard to miss: Popeyes drew queues of up to 18 hours when it opened beside the River Island unit last October.

The unit itself is one of Oxford Street’s most prominent, a large double-fronted store on the street’s main run, and its future use will be a question for a street already carrying the empty M&S.

River Island is expected to keep a presence in the city at its Morfa Retail Park store, which reopened as one of the chain’s new-format concept branches in 2022, along with its Parc Trostre store in Llanelli.

The street’s story is not all departures: Charlotte Tilbury opened at the Quadrant last month as one of only two Welsh stores, Danish homeware brand Søstrene Grene drew queues from 7.30am on Princess Way, and three tenants for the former Debenhams are expected to be named soon.

Swansea Council has been working to reposition the city centre away from pure retail, with the Copr Bay arena, £1-an-hour parking and the Civic Centre waterfront plans part of that pitch, and council leader Rob Stewart saying talks continue with major retailers, including M&S about a possible return in a different format.

The store trades as normal until 12 September, with the closing-down sale running until the doors shut.