NEWS of shop closures across the UK might have you thinking it's all doom and gloom on the high street.
But plenty of retailers have announced plans to open hundreds of stores between them over the coming years.
And one chain is even welcoming customers into a new branch today in a boost for locals.
The retail sector has struggled in recent years as shoppers head online to pick up their daily essentials.
That, combined with recent high energy and wage costs, has seen plenty of businesses forced to permanently shut branches.
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Some, including major players Wilko and Paperchase, have gone bust, seeing hundreds of stores close and thousands of staff laid off.
But where some chains have struggled, others have been expanding their presence on the high street and at retail parks across the UK.
Here's all the retailers opening 700 stores between them from today.
Home Bargains
Home Bargains, which was running just under 600 branches as of last June, has said it wants to "eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open".
The major discounter has stopped short of saying when it wants to reach the 1,000 store target however.
The retailer made the announcement in a filing to Companies House earlier this week, as it reported a 10% rise in sales to £3.7billion in the year to June 2023 compared to June 2022.
It said its pre-tax profits increased by over 12% from £288million to £324million.
Tesco
Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
A spokesperson for the UK's largest supermarket chain said it will be bringing more smaller Express stores to local communities.
The retailer will also open a small number of large stores over the course of the year.
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It said the opening of the 70 Express store locations will create around 2,000 jobs in a boost for local economies across the UK.
However, it has not said where the new branches where or when the branches will be opening.
The announcement came on the back of a giant leap in its profits, with the chain raking in a whopping £2.3billion compared to £882million a year earlier.
Purepay Retail Limited
The parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
It is yet to give exact locations where it will open the 100 stores, or when they will open exactly.
The investment consortium said it expects the store openings to create over 500 jobs.
It comes just three years after Purepay bought all three brands out of administration, opening 50 stores last year.
Peacocks is eyeing up locations within the M25, as first reported by Drapers.
Bonmarché meanwhile has said it wants to open new shops in Bradford, Lincoln, Milton Keynes, Inverness and Stirling.
And Edinburgh Woollen Mill has plans for new stores in town centres and tourist locations, including Barnstaple, Worcester, Lichfield and Clitheroe.
Aldi
The UK's cheapest supermarket Aldi is set to open 35 new stores across the UK over the coming months.
The discounter is yet to reveal exactly when the new stores will open, but revealed the months six will welcome in customers for the first time.
It will open three branches in Preston, Derby and High Wycombe this month, two in Gresley and Vale in May and a further branch in Bristol in June.
Aldi said each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
The openings form part of Aldi's long-term target of running 1,500 stores in the UK in the coming years.
Screwfix
Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores across the UK over the next financial year.
It already opened two new stores in March, and is opening three in total this month.
It is pulling up the shutters on a store in Stoke today (April 12) while two others will open in Devon and Dorset on April 26 and April 18 respectively.
It has not said where it will be opening all 40 of the new branches, nor opening dates.
It comes after Kingfisher, which owns Screwfix, said it had opened 51 new stores in the last financial year.
WHSmith
WHSmith is one of the retailers which has been closing stores across the UK, but it also wants to open branches in other locations.
The retailer said it wants to open 15 new stores in airports, railway stations and hospitals this year, but has not said where or when they will open.
In a recent update to investors, it said it was also on track to open 15 new stores "each year over the medium term" in a boost for shoppers.
It came after the retailer said revenue across the business rose by 8% over the 20 weeks leading up to January 20, compared to the same period the year before.
Greggs
One of the UK's favourite bakery chain's Greggs has exclusively revealed to The Sun plans to open 50 more outlet branches by the end of 2025.
Greggs Outlets stock some of the chain's most popular items including the iconic sausage roll, except prices are up to 75% cheaper.
This is because the stock is usually a day old, but the chain says it is still fresh.
Greggs currently has 45 of the outlet shops open across the UK.
The bakery chain is yet to reveal where and when it wants to open the 50 new branches before the end of next year.
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