Select Fashion to close Chippenham store amid cuts

Select Fashion opened a shop in Chippenham’s Emery Gate shopping centre in October 2023.

A little over a year later, the popular brand has confirmed the branch is one of several across the UK that will be closing in the coming weeks.

At this point, no date has been set for the closure.

Signs at the store are advertising a “closing down sale” in which “everything must go”.

Customers have been urged to take advantage of these bargains and can continue to shop with Select Fashion online once the shop closes for the last time.

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Select Fashion in Chippenham (Image: Newsquest) Shopping centre owner Acorn Property Group says the announcement shows the need for its developing plans to overhaul the Emery Gate site.

Acorn’s project manager Caroline Wall said: “Select Fashion has decided to close several stores nationally, and we are disappointed that their unit at Emery Gate is one of them.

“The latest closure reiterates the need for our transformational Chippenham Riverside proposals to rejuvenate the town centre’s commercial and leisure offering." 

Alongside Tesco, Select Fashion is one of the bigger brands to have announced they are leaving Emery Gate over the last year as the shopping centre deals with falling footfall.

Acorn hopes to turn the centre’s fortunes around by delivering a scheme to transform the retail and commercial offering at the site alongside the creation of over 200 town centre homes.

In the meantime, Acorn is searching for another occupant to take on the unit.

Select Fashion in Chippenham (Image: Newsquest) Ms Wall added: “We are currently awaiting confirmation from Select Fashion on the date they are due to close their Emery Gate unit.

“Acorn is committed to finding new tenants and welcomes interest, both national and independent, to fill the unit.

“The available unit can be offered on flexible lease terms to businesses, who can contact commercial@acornpg.org if they are interested.”

The Select Fashion store will become one of several empty units in the shopping centre with the biggest one, the former Tesco superstore, also on the market.

Select Fashion has been operating on UK High Streets for decades but has reportedly faced financial difficulties in recent years, leading to several branches across the country being axed.

Its store was a popular addition to Emery Gate with many shoppers sharing their excitement at the news when it opened the unit.