It comes after the bakery shut its Westbourne and Wimborne branches earlier this year, with customers taking to social media to react to the latest closure
A family bakery has shut its third store this year – leaving loyal customers devastated. Bennetts Family Bakers closed its branch in Lower Blandford Road, Broadstone on June 14.
It comes after the bakery shut its Westbourne and Wimborne branches earlier this year. Bennetts confirmed the latest closure with a notice that was taped in the shop window.
It read: “It is with great sadness that this shop will be closing on the 14th of June. It has been a pleasure serving the Broadstone community over the years.
“This has come about because of staff shortages and illness in the family. I would like to thank everybody for their support.”
Shoppers have been reacting to the news on social media, with one person saying: “Good people sad to see them go.” Another said: “Sad not many left now.” A third person commented: “Such a shame.”
Bennetts was founded in 1951 and has just three remaining shops in Southbourne, Winton and Parkstone. David Bennett, the company’s director, previously told the Daily Echo he was struggling to run the business while caring for his elderly mother.
He said: “We’ve had an incredibly loyal customer base, and I’m truly thankful for the support we’ve had over the years.”
In more high street news, Hobbycraft has revealed the closure date for nine stores. The arts and crafts retailer will close the following stores on June 21: Bristol, Borehamwood, Basildon, Bagshot, Canterbury, Cirencester, Dunstable, Epping Forest, Lakeside Shopping Centre.
Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital previously revealed the nine closures, which form part of a larger restructure of the business, would result in up to 126 job losses.
The retail chain said the restructuring will also result in redundancies across its Bournemouth head office and distribution centre in Burton-on-Trent.
Meanwhile, Poundland is expected to close around 100 store after the budget chain was sold for just £1 to investment firm Gordon Brothers, the former owner of Laura Ashley.
The restructuring plan will go through the High Court with details to be revealed “in due course”. Poundland has already closed more than a dozen stores over the past few months and there are several more branches that are scheduled to close this summer.
Poundland, which is owned by Pepco Group, has around 800 stores in the UK and employs roughly 16,000 employees. As part of the restructuring plan, Pepco will retain a minority stake in Poundland.
Gordon Brothers has also said it is providing up to £80million of financing to help fund the turnaround plan. It comes after Poundland reported revenues dropped by 6.5% to €985million (£830million) for the six months to March.