City jewellery store shuts after lease is not renewed
PARENT COMPANY CONSOLIDATES BUSINESS AT VICTORIA CENTRE BRANCH
JEWELLERY chain H.samuel has closed down its shop in Lister Gate as it consolidates its operations in Nottingham to one location.
Shoppers have been greeted at the branch with a sign informing them all business will now be done from their store at the intu Victoria Centre.
The chain’s parent company, Signet Group, has not gone into detail as to why the store has closed, but suggested a decision was made not to continue with the lease at the property.
The company did not provide details about how staff would be affected.
A spokesman for Signet said: “We continually reassess our portfolio of stores on a store by store basis, particularly when individual store leases come up for renewal.
“This particular closure bears no reflection upon the future plans of the Signet business estate overall within the UK.
“We are sorry to be leaving Lister Gate. However we do have an H.samuel store less than ten minutes away at Victoria Centre.”
It is the second jewellery shop to leave Lister Gate in just a few months, after Ernest Jones, also part of Signet, closed its intu Broadmarsh Centre branch in late August.
Jeweller and watchmaker Goldsmiths also closed a branch in Clumber Street at the end of last year but moved all stock and staff to a new store on the corner of Bridlesmith Gate.
Reacting to the closure, Jeff Allen, chairman of the Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID), said: “It is always sad to see a retail store close but the H.samuel decision is entirely understandable given that the lease has come up for renewal.
“They already have a significant online presence and are also maintaining their high street presence in Nottingham with their intu Victoria Centre store.
“In the current retail climate, there needs to be a very persuasive case to have more than one retail outlet in a city centre.”
Scott Knowles, chief executive of the East Midlands Chamber, explained that “clusters” of similar shops, such as jewellery, tend to stay in similar areas.
He added: “It is never good news to hear of a business closing and we would prefer not to hear it, but if it secures the business in Nottingham then that is a good thing.”