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Britain’s high street stores face a dire future as experts warn the latest ­casualties mark the beginning of a ­retailing apocalypse.

Up to 200,000 stores jobs are expected to be axed by 2020 according to The Centre for Retail Research – on top of 150,000 that have gone since 2016.

And it gloomily predicts 9,500 shops will close this year and 10,200 in 2019.

The shock prediction came after Maplin and Toys R Us went bust today, leaving around 5,700 workers facing redundancy.

And there was more bad news as Prezzo was said to be looking to close up to 100 of its ­restaurants.

All three chains are owned by private equity firms.

Fashion house New Look could shut at least 60 stores, House of Fraser has asked shop landlords for rent reduction and Mothercare and Debenhams are struggling.

Up to 40 Homebase DIY stores could close, with 2,000 jobs at risk.

GlobalData retail analyst Eleanor Parr said: “Today is Black Wednesday for high street retailers.”

Eleven have already gone into ­administration this year alone thanks to poor sales, soaring ­business rates and the boom in cheaper online goods. Professor Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research called on the Government to step in and help.

He warned that one in 10 of all shops across the UK could shut over the next two years.

He said: “The retail industry is in crisis, caused by slack demand and escalating ­business rates.

“The Government must act now to protect the range of large and small shops by freezing rates at the very minimum. If not, then thousands of jobs and stores are forced to close.”

(Image: REUTERS)

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey added: “The Government must urgently address the retail sector problems.”

The collapse of Toys R Us, with the possible loss of 3,200 jobs, comes just two months after the chain was saved in a last-ditch deal before Christmas.

It was floored by weak trading and debts, thought to include a £15million VAT bill that was due on Tuesday.

Joint administrator Moorfields said: “We will be conducting an orderly wind-down of the store portfolio over the coming weeks.

“All stores remain open until further notice and stock will be subject to ­clearance and special promotions. We’re encouraging customers to redeem gift cards and vouchers as soon as possible.

“We will make every effort to secure a buyer for all or part of the business.” Members of the firm’s defined benefit pension scheme could have retirement pots cut.

(Image: PA)

The scheme is expected to end up in the Pension Protection Fund, a fall-back when it looks like ­businesses will fail. The European arm of Toys R Us is also struggling and its US parent company was put into bankruptcy protection last year.

Officials were also trying to find a buyer for gadget chain Maplin, which went into administration, after recent rescue attempts failed – putting 2,500 jobs at risk.

It went bust within two hours of Toys R Us. The Rotherham-based firm, owned by private equity firm Rutland Partners, has 218 stores

Chief executive Graham Harris said: “It has not been possible to secure a solvent sale and as a result we now have no alternative but to enter into an administration process. During this process Maplin will continue to trade and remains open for business.” ­Edinburgh Woollen Mill, run by retail billionaire Philip Day, had been touted as a potential rescuer for Maplin.

But talks are thought to have broken down. Rutland bought the store in mid-2014, since when the chain has paid £155million in ­dividends.

Maplin’s losses widened from £2million to £3.8million last year – yet accounts show its highest paid director pocketed £484,000.

(Image: PA)

Italian-themed chain Prezzo, which has 300 outlets and 4,500 staff, is owned by TPG Capital.

The firm is to launch a Company Voluntary Arrangement, which will allow it to ditch unprofitable branches and secure rent reductions on the remaining ones.

It also owns popular Tex-Mex chain Chimichanga.

Rival burger chain Byron and Jamie’s Italian are also closing a wave of restaurants to cut costs.

A botched revamp of Homebase led to mounting losses and the firm’s Australian owner plans to wield the axe. Figures out today reveal a near 7% slump in people going to stores, apart from supermarkets, last month.

It marked the tenth ­consecutive month of year-on-year falls.

Dr Tim Denison of the research authors Ipsos Retail ­Performance said: “The squeeze on consumer revenue remains palpable, making trading increasingly brutal.”

Decade of collapse for big-name shops

Toys R Us and Maplin look set to join the graveyard of big-name chain stores.

It is a decade since Woolworths went to the wall, triggering 30,000 job losses.

That same year in 2008, kitchen and bedroom furniture chain MFI went into administration.

In 2009, book store Borders bit the dust. By Christmas Eve, all its UK shops had closed.

Electrical chain Comet went bust in 2012 after racking up heavy losses, the same year sportswear retailer JJB disappeared.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

The following year, video and DVD rental chain Blockbusters went, killed off by the growth of online delivery rivals and then streaming.

But perhaps the biggest and most controversial collapse was department store BHS, in 2016.

The chain was sold by tycoon Sir Philip Green for £1 the previous year to a bunch of investors with no retail experience.

The list of collapses this year includes bed chain Warren Evans, clothing firm Berwin & Berwin and the company behind the once trendy label Joe Bloggs.

But many other retailers over the years have entered administration and managed to survive in one shape or another.

Cut-throat business bleeding towns dry

ANALYSIS

By Graham Hiscott

Our town centres are under siege and it is not just shops closing at a rate of knots.

Big banks are axing hundreds of branches, the Post Office is closing outlets, Thomas Cook is shutting 50 shops, and two pubs disappear every day.

Throw in the demise of police stations, libraries and others and the fabric of many communities is being decimated.

Three Bs – business rates, stretched budgets and the weak pound pushing up import costs after Brexit – are partly why Toys R Us and Maplin have come a cropper.

But the other big factor is the seismic change which online shopping has heralded.

Shops bosses tell me all the time it is the most cut-throat time in their careers.

But for the sake of our communities, our wellbeing and much more we need action.

Town centres can thrive, but they need radical help from government.

Make the high street cheap to visit, affordable to trade on, vibrant and exciting, and we can once again be a nation of shopkeepers.