Sarah Barker

Retailer Carpetright plans to close its Lincoln store, among 81 shutting down across the country.

Both the Lincoln store on Tritton Road and the Scunthorpe store on Queensway will close.

Carpetright also has three other stores in the county in Grimsby, Spalding and Stamford, however these stores have not been named in the list of closures.

At the time of writing the closing date for the two Lincolnshire stores has not been confirmed.

The chain is planning a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that will allow it to shut its worst-performing stores.

These closures would result in the loss of around 300 jobs across the country.

A Carpetright spokesperson said: “We’re announcing today some tough but necessary steps to address our legacy property issues and restore our profitability.

“We are launching a CVA proposal that, if approved, will result in the closure of 81 poorly located or over-rented stores, from a UK total in excess of 400, later this year.

“Planned closures will not affect our customers, all orders will be fulfilled either by the original store or a neighbouring Carpetright where necessary.

“Regrettably, we expect this will mean that around 300 colleagues would leave the business but we will make every effort to find alternative roles for those affected wherever possible.

“We’re also announcing that we plan to follow the CVA with an equity financing to raise c.£60 million of new funds to invest in our stores and online offer, to strengthen the competitive position of the ongoing business.

“It’s important to stress that throughout the CVA process, we will continue trading as normal and customers can continue to shop with Carpetright with confidence.

“We do not expect the proposed stores to close before September 2018.
“We will remain in close contact with all colleagues to keep them fully informed as we move through this process.”

This comes after Toys R Us and Maplin fell into administration in recent weeks and announced closures across the county.

Earlier this week home improvement store Homebase also announced it would be closing its Lincoln store on St Marks next month.

National chocolatier brand Hotel Chocolat will open a new store on Lincoln High Street next month.

Hotel Chocolat, which first launched in London in 2004, is expected to open in the former Ernest Jones shop next to H Samual on High Street on May 3 – the first shop for the brand in Lincolnshire.

Hotel Chocolat currently has 93 shops as well as a number of cafés and restaurants around the world.

Some 10 new jobs will also be created in the area.

A spokesperson told The Lincolnite previously: “The store will be selling everything from elegant gift boxes of chocolate to your everyday chocolate fix, all made according to our mantra – More Cocoa, Less Sugar – for a satisfying cocoa hit, it will also be serving our ‘Ice Cream of the Gods’.”