Shoe retailer blames government for its woes
UK-based footwear retail group Shoe Zone has said increased staff costs and weak consumer confidence have led to a decision to close some of its stores.
Its current financial year began in late September 2024. It said trading conditions in October, November and the first half of December had been “very challenging”.
It blamed a government budget, announced in October, for its predicament, saying that the measures in the budget had weakened consumer confidence and had added to its staffing costs through increases in minimum wage levels and in employers’ national insurance payments.
As a result, it said in a trading update on December 18 that it was halving its expected pre-tax profits for this financial year to around £5 million.
In light of this, Shoe Zone said it was planning the closure of “a number of stores that have now become unviable”.
