Chatwins bakery has shut three shops around Hanley, while it continues to refit and re-brand other more profitable stores.
The bakery has most recently shut its Tontine Square site in Hanley - citing reduced footfall in the area.
Company boss Edward Chatwin explained to The Sentinel in Stoke: “Unlike other areas of our business, such as South Cheshire where we are seeing strong sales growth, Hanley has declined significantly.
“There is now a very high vacancy rate around Tontine Square. This has reduced footfall in the area and, as a result, our sales have also declined. With the lease having come to an end, we have decided to vacate the unit.”
Despite this, the bakery also said would be keeping stores in Newcastle, Stone and South Cheshire open, while it refitted a number of them with the new branding.
Chatwins began to rebrand and refit its shops in late 2014, and had since seen sales at those sites up 30%-40%.
The refits are intended to give a more modern look and feel to the bakery, and the firm has used market research and inspiration from other coffee shops and bakeries to create the looks.
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