In a major blow to the high street, the popular outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Millets has announced the closure of all 47 of its UK stores by the end of next month. Customers in the seaside town of Portsmouth were greeted with signs on the doors of the Palmerston Road location, advertising a 20% “everything must go” liquidation sale to clear out remaining inventory before the final day of trading on February 28th.
Millets, which has been a fixture on the Portsmouth high street since 2011, is the latest casualty in the ongoing struggles faced by brick-and-mortar retailers. The company, founded in Southampton in 1893, had already shuttered 6 stores earlier in 2025, with 4 of those locations being rebranded and reopened under the sister company GO Outdoors.
At the time, GO Outdoors CEO Lee Bagnall had touted the move as a way for customers to benefit from the loyalty programme, which offered “exclusive and more affordable prices” for members. However, it appears these efforts were not enough to stave off the full closure of the Millets brand across the UK.
Reactions from local residents have been mixed, with one disappointed customer lamenting the loss of a convenient source for camping and outdoor gear, while another questioned how many of the vocal mourners were actually regular shoppers at the store. One commenter noted that Millets was not the type of shop one would visit weekly, but rather a few times a year.
The impending closure of all 47 Millets locations is the latest blow to the British high street, which has been grappling with the shift towards online shopping and the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. As consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce for their shopping needs, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Millets are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a viable presence on the nation’s main streets.
