Dobbies set to close shops across UK – see the Scottish stores at risk

Dobbies shared it was closing the stores in a bid to “address historically uneconomical rent costs and ensure a return to sustainable profitability”.

Altogether, Dobbies will close 11 of its main larger sites and six of the Little Dobbies stores around the UK, including the store in Inverness – which the Inverness Courier have reported puts more than 30 jobs at risk – as well as the Little Dobbies in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge.

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Retail Gazette reported that the stores closing are “unprofitable” and will see 465 out of Dobbies’ 3600 employees impacted.

According to Sky News, Dobbies Garden Centres, which is controlled by the major American investor Ares Management, is working with advisers on a ‘restructuring plan’ which could lead the way for closures throughout the garden centre retailer. 

Full list of Dobbies stores closing down in the UK

You can see the full list of Dobbies closing below:

Dobbies

• Altrincham
• Antrim
• Gloucester
• Gosforth
• Harlestone Heath
• Huntingdon
• Inverness
• King’s Lynn
• Pennine
• Reading
• Stratford-upon-Avon

Little Dobbies

• Cheltenham
• Chiswick
• Clifton
• Richmond
• Stockbridge
• Westbourne Grove

The closures will mean that Dobbies will be left with 60 garden centres while the retailer also aims to look for landlords with a temporary rent reduction on nine more sites.

While Dobbies continues with its restructuring plan, all stores will be open and operating as normal.

A date for the 17 store closures has not been confirmed yet but is expected to cease trading by the end of the year.

According to the report, FTI Consulting has been drafted in to work on the restructuring process. 

Ares Management acquired Dobbies Garden Centres in February 2023. 

Previously, the garden centre chain was owned by Midlothian Capital Partners and also Tesco.