H&M’s closure in Hartlepool's Middleton Grange Shopping Centre a ‘surprise’

H&M confirmed last week that its store in the town’s Middleton Grange Shopping Centre will close down, following “a rapid change in customer behaviour.”

It was the only remaining H&M branch in the area after the store at Teesside Retail Park closed in June 2022, following earlier closures in Middlesbrough’s Cleveland Centre and in Stockton.

A spokesperson for Middleton Grange Shopping Centre confirmed that H&M will be vacating the centre later this year, describing the news as a “surprise”.

The spokesperson said: "It is not only sad to hear that H&M have come to this decision, but the news also comes as a surprise. The landlord has offered them a lot of support, something that they were keen to continue, to ensure that the Hartlepool community had a local H&M store, but this was declined.

"We wish the team the most success and would like to offer our personal support in sharing any vacancies within the other stores at the centre, they will be listed on the "jobs" tab of Middleton Grange website."

The Hartlepool store took over the large unit previously occupied by Marks and Spencer seven years ago.

A spokesperson for H&M said: “During the last few years, we have seen a rapid change in customer behaviour that we cannot ignore. We continuously need to evaluate and develop our business to meet our customers’ needs and offer the best possible shopping experience, whether it’s online or in our physical stores.

"Our ambition is to continue investing in our customers, open new stores where we see opportunities and develop our digital channels.

"We continuously evaluate how we should invest in stores and sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth. This means that we sometimes need to close stores. This decision has been made for our Hartlepool store.

The spokesperson added: “Customer behaviour is constantly changing and we need to adapt accordingly. We want to be where our customers are. The physical store is still extremely important to us and will be a place for customers to shop, discover and be inspired."