Shoppers say they are "outraged" after the flagship Nottingham city centre Argos store posted a message to customers confirming its closure. Argos will leave its site in Lower Parliament Street on January 15, when the nearest store to the city will be within the Sainsbury's superstore in Castle Boulevard.
A notice put up in the window of the shop also confirms customers can shop at the site up until Saturday, January 14. In 2021, plans were approved to create a 10-storey student block of flats in the building occupied by Argos.
This would lead to the creation of 275 student beds above the shop. However, in November, Argos stressed it had no plans to close the store, with a spokesperson saying: "We have not current plans to close our Lower Parliament Street store."
Read more: 'Amazing' mum-of-three died suddenly at home and was found by brave daughter, 13
Now, the news of the closure has been met with shock among shoppers who are lamenting the end of "another major Nottingham shop."
Danny Mierkalns, 35, a tradesman from Mapperley, said: "People are struggling to find good places to get hold of nice things, especially around this time of year, and places are closing down. The opposite should be happening.
"The sort of shops that people care about and the sort of shops that we need are just closing all the time. I don't use the Argos in the city too much, I usually use the one in Arnold, but for most people, they're going to have to travel a long way now.
"This is a university city - like Manchester, like Liverpool. But there are too many, too many student flats.
Whitemoor resident John Feltham, 58, said: "That's outrageous. I'll tell you what, there's going to be more and more of this."
He added: "Shops that we know and love are rapidly being shut down and that's the way Nottingham is going at the moment.
"Other than the shopping centre, the Vic Centre, there's nowhere I like to shop anymore or go into, no nice places or places where you can go in and just pick up what you want - like an Argos!
"And all for more student accommodation. I understand it's a place for uni students, but don't we have enough of that already?"
Argos' former shop in the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre closed a number of years ago. Ted Callaghan, 52, who works as a bricklayer in Lenton, said: "I thought it was going to become a Sainsbury's as I knew there was a link with them. Honestly, I don't use Argos much.
"I'm aware of a lot of shops closing in Nottingham but other places have struggled since Covid. Needs must."
READ NEXT:
