Beloved family-run department store to close shop after 112 years on high street

A family-owned department store, which has served a community for more than 100 years, will close its doors next month.

Hancock & Wood is owned by the fourth generation of the Hancock family. It first opened in 1914 and has remained on the same site in Bridge Street, Warrington in Cheshire for 112 years.

The owners of the high-street store said in a statement that the popularity of online shopping, an increase in business rates and growing pressure from retail parks have led to the closure.

Director Christopher Hancock’s grandfather first opened the store. Mr Hancock said he had “sleepless nights” about how to break the news to staff, but felt the business had reached “the end of the road”.

Frederick Samuel Hancock, Mr Hancock’s grandfather, enlisted to fight in World War One just months after opening the store.

Warrington’s oldest-running department store also survived the 1993 Warrington bombing, in which two IRA devices explode in the town centre. Two boys were killed and 56 others injured.

Mr Hancock said: “My brother got knocked over in the second blast. He wasn’t injured but was fairly shaken.”

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He said the high street is no longer what it used to be, while the business has struggled with rising operating costs ever since the pandemic.

“Our costs have risen way above inflation and unfortunately, our turnover increase has been hard to come by,” he said.

“Warrington is not what it used to be, it has certainly changed and not for the better.”

“The growth of internet shopping and the strength of out-of-town retailing, life has become somewhat harder.”

Mr Hancock said it had been “a joy to serve” their many customers over the years.

The shop has been a feature of the Warrington for generations.

“It’s one of my favourite shops. I came here as a baby, my mum always brought me here and I love this shop,” one customer told the BBC of the store, which offers over 11 departments across two floors.

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The department store will close its doors for the final time next month, the shop confirmed.