A high street charity shop chain has already closed 56 stores this year, and more shops are expected to be dragging down their shutters for good in the coming weeks… and three more are closing today (Saturday, December 6). Scope has faced a string of closures after the charity shop chain had already shut down 56 of its branches in 2025. A further 21 stores are under threat of closure in 2026.
Already by the end of September, 56 of the disability equality organisation’s shops ceased trading, meaning almost half of Scope stores in England and Wales will have faced the brutal chop. A string of closures happened earlier this year, with another wave over the summer and more during Autumn. Some locations and staff members were taken over by A World UK CIC. The organisation is considering shutting down a whopping 77 of its 138 shops in total. A specific list of 2026 closures and the remaining 21 stores under threat isn’t finalised yet.
Reasons behind the removal of Scope’s high street stores have been revealed by the charity’s chief executive, Mark Hodgkinson, who said it’s all down to the cost of living crisis and the rise of online shopping.
He explained: “This situation isn’t confined to Scope. All retailers have been hit with a greater shift to online shopping and we are facing rising rents, soaring energy costs, increased staff costs, and the cost of living squeezing customers.”
The full list of the 56 Scope closures in 2025 are as follows: Alton, Bishop’s Stortford, Huntingdon, Newmarket, Beverley, Fleet, Halstead, Hinkley, Camborne, Kendal, Gosport, Wednesbury, Rochdale, Nuneaton, Gillingham High Street, Beckenham, Portsmouth, Taunton, Bromley, Bridgwater, Burton, Blyth, Hove George, Burton, Erdington, West Hampstead, Exmouth, Bury, Newport, Southampton (Portswood Road), Atherstone, Welling, Amersham, Barking, Bangor, Birkenhead, Bishop Auckland, Castleford, Devizes, Dewsbury, Eastbourne, Haywards Heath, Lewisham, New Milton, Orpington, Parkstone, Scunthorpe, Shirley (Southampton), Skipton, Workington, Bexhill, Hertford, Mitcham, Petersfield, Scarborough, Worthing.
Scope is a UK-based charity that provides support, campaigns and services to create a more equal future for disabled people. It helps people with disabilities and their families with practical information, advice on benefits and energy bills, and emotional support through a helpline and online community. The charity also provides services for disabled children and adults, campaigns to change attitudes and influence policy, and offers employment support opportunities.
Debbie Boylen, head of retail at disability equality charity Scope, said: “Scope has been campaigning for disability equality for over 70 years. Our shops have helped us raise vital income to support our work with disabled people and their families.
“Having consulted with our colleagues and volunteers on proposals to close 77 of our shops. We’re very sad to confirm our shops in Morden, Torquay and Washington will close on Saturday 6 December.
“We’ve had such incredible support from these wonderful and generous communities. We never take the decision to close our stores lightly.
“We recognise for our colleagues and volunteers, it’s more than just a job. We know they feel passionately about playing their part in our work, creating an equal future with disabled people. We will be doing everything we can to support them and our decision does not reflect their hard work and dedication to Scope.
“Scope continues to have a future on the high street and our shops will continue to be a place where we directly engage with our local communities, where they can find out about Scope’s work and join our movement for change.”
But it isn’t the only charity struggling to survive on Britain’s ailing high street. Cancer Research UK planning to shut nearly 200 by mid-2026/2027, driven by rising costs, lower footfall, and online competition. The charity announced back in October that it will reduce the size of its core chain to around 320 high street shops, with the closure of 90 stores by May 2026, followed by up to 100 more by April 2027.
However, Cancer Research UK plans to add to its 46 larger, out-of-town shops by opening another 12 “superstores” by 2028, which it said would meet increasing demand for spacious, value-focused shopping experiences.
Other charity retailers have told the Charity Retail Association (CRA) they are also considering following in Scope’s footsteps and significantly reducing their shop estate, the trade organisation has said.
Charity retailers told CRA that “this is the worst time for trading they have ever encountered” and shop estates would “unlikely come out of this 100% unscathed”.
In a blog, CRA’s directors wrote: “We’ve already seen a significant reduction in the shop estate of one of our most experienced and sizable members – Scope – and anecdotally we’re aware that there are others of our larger members in particular who are considering similar action.
“There appears to be a bit of a perfect storm at the moment, with income being relatively flat, and cost pressures being almost unprecedented. These two factors are combining to hit profitability in a way that most charity retailers have rarely seen before.”
CRA’s directors said “income growth for charity retail is now very modest” compared with 2022 and 2023, “the best years charity retail has ever had”.
A recent survey of 52 CRA members found that more than a third of respondents said they might reduce the number of paid staff or working hours in response to rising costs. Nearly one in three respondents said they might close shops, while almost two in five said they might scale back plans to open new shops, and just over a fifth said they might reduce trading hours. Meanwhile, two-thirds of respondents said they might put up prices in their shops.
