Historic Sheffield chocolate company Thorntons to permanently close all shops due to Covid

The historic chocolate company, founded in Sheffield in 1911, said it had taken the ‘difficult decision’ to go into full consultation to start the permanent closure of all 61 shops, including on Fargate in Sheffield city centre.

The firm blamed the ‘changing dynamics’ of the high street, a rise in online sales and the ‘numerous lockdown restrictions’ over the last year - especially during key trading periods at Easter and Christmas.

Adam Goddard, retail director at Thorntons said workers could apply for vacancies at sites in Greenford and its headquarters and factory in Somercotes, Alfreton, employing 1,000.

But he accepted there would be redundancies.

He added: “Like many companies, we have been operating for a long time in a tough and challenging retail environment.

“Unfortunately like many others, the obstacles we have faced, and will continue to face, on the high street are too severe and despite our best efforts we have taken the difficult decision to permanently close our retail store estate.

“We will now go into full consultation with our colleagues across our 61 Thorntons-owned stores.

Our colleagues have been fantastic during this challenging time, and we would like to thank them for their continued support. We understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time and we will actively support them during this period.”

Ferrero International bought the company in 2015 for £110m and invested £40m in manufacturing, retail, e-commerce. But last year, Thorntons reported a 9.5 per cent drop in sales to £122.3m and a pre-tax loss of £35m.

Mr Goddard said online sales were up 71 per cent over the last 12 months. And they would continue to invest in ‘grocery channels’ with partners.

He added: “Our factory in Alfreton remains key and has recently become a Centre of Excellence for assortments.

“We are continuing on our journey to produce more assortment products for the international market – the first being our Golden Gallery collection now available in the USA and Canada.

“We remain committed to our iconic Thorntons brand and will continue to invest further in the future potential to ensure we evolve with the times.”

The company was founded by Joseph Thornton in 1911, selling homemade sweets from a shop at 159 Norfolk Street, Sheffield.

He carried on with his day job and entrusted his 14‐year‐old son Norman to run the shop. Norman brought in his brother Stanley and by the 1920s they were making chocolate truffles, crystallised fondants and the famous Thorntons special toffee.

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Thank you. Nancy Fielder, editor.