The British Heart Foundation said it plans to close around 150 charity shops over the next two years, a move that will affect just under a quarter of its 640 shops and stores across the UK. The closures will be phased through March 2028, with around 90 stores expected to go by the end of March 2027.
The decision lands now because the charity says rising operating costs and changing customer habits have made some locations no longer financially sustainable, even as retail remains central to how it funds research into heart and circulatory disease. Charmaine Griffiths said the charity was facing an exceptionally challenging trading environment and that cardiovascular disease remains one of the UK's biggest killers, adding that BHF must take the difficult step of closing some shops to sustain retail's contribution to its research work.
The charity said its overall financial position remains healthy, with fundraising and legacy income still strong, but its retail arm has been reshaped by the shift in how people shop and donate. BHF also operates donation points and online retail channels including its website and eBay, and it said the wider retail operation will keep evolving to reflect changing customer shopping behaviours and donor habits.
That balance helps explain the friction at the heart of the plan: the organisation is not under acute financial stress, yet it is still pulling back from stores it no longer believes can pay their way. The charity also plans to reduce the central teams that support its retail arm, and it has not yet named the shops due to close.
BHF said it would publish the locations on its website once affected colleagues have been informed, which means the list of closures is still to come even as the timetable is now fixed. The charity's move follows a retail review and comes after Cancer Research UK said last year it would close around 90 High Street shops by May this year and up to 100 more by April 2027, while opening 12 out-of-town superstores over the next two years.
