More than 10,000 shops closed down last year, according to the latest figures from the Centre for Retail Research.

A total of 119,405 retail workers were made redundant in 2023 and 10,494 stores closed down, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Despite the closure of 400 Wilko stores, overall store closures were 38.8% lower than in 2022. The number of redundancies in 2023 was down 21.3% on the previous year.

The Centre for Retail Research said the sector was hit by a combination of the cost-of-living crisis leading to consumers tightening their belts, along with increased costs for the retailers themselves.

It said most store closures and retail jobs lost in 2023 were caused by company reorganisation and cost cutting programmes rather than business failures - a trend which began in 2022.