My mate Harry sent a text last Thursday asking if I’d heard about the WHSmith on Old Christchurch Road. I didn’t. Hadn’t been into town for yonks, since parking is a fortune and truth be told, I just get everything on the internet now. It actually closed in January 2025. The 18th, to be exact. There was a big WHSmith Bournemouth closing sale where, apparently, people were fighting over discounted notebooks and Cadbury’s at half price.
Honestly, I felt somewhat guilty. That shop had been there as long as I’d been alive. I bought my school supplies there as a child. Got revision books for my GCSEs out of there.
Once, I even picked up emergency birthday cards there when I forgot someone’s birthday, which happened more than I’d like to admit. Now it’s just… gone. Didn’t even notice.
Wait, Three of Them Closed?
So I did some digging in the aftermath of Harry’s text, and it is actually worse than even I thought. Bournemouth didn’t lose one WHSmith. We lost three in under a year. Three! The one on the Old Christchurch Road went in January. Another one had already closed before that. By February 2025, the branch on Wimborne Road had closed.
My next-door neighbour, Pauline, who is in her late seventies, used to walk to that shop in Winton every Sunday for her newspapers and a magazine. ‘Been doing it for twenty years or so,’ she told me over the fence last week. But now the nearest is a 15-minute walk away. She has arthritis in both knees. At her age, that extra distance means something.
This year, the company shut down 17 stores throughout the UK. Bournemouth got absolutely hammered with three of them. Two other locations were Manchester and the Isle of Wight. There was also one in Basingstoke that had been there for over 50 years, in The Malls shopping centre. Half a century! And then they simply yanked the plug.
Bournemouth Town Centre is Properly Struggling
I went into town last weekend for the first time in months. Needed to return something to Boots that I’d ordered online because of the wrong size, typical. While I was there, I had a proper look around. It’s depressing. Empty shops everywhere.
Waterstones Bournemouth is still there, but I reckon they must be worried. Superdrug closed its town centre branch in January 2025. The Body Shop shut down at the end of 2024. That Wildwood pizza place on Richmond Hill is also gone. I quite liked their pizzas too.
A local councillor, Jeff Hanna, said Amazon and Castlepoint shopping centre have killed the town centre. Can’t argue with him, really. Why would I pay six quid for parking, walk around in the cold, and carry shopping bags when I can click a button on my phone and have stuff delivered tomorrow? Or drive to Castlepoint, where parking’s free and everything’s in one place?
Someone on the Bournemouth Echo website said they counted dozens of empty units in town. I didn’t count them myself, as it was too depressing, but you can’t miss them. All those “to let” signs in windows. Shops that used to be rammed on Saturdays sit there dark and empty.
At Least Someone Bought the Building
The Old Christchurch Road building didn’t stay empty, which is something. In May 2025, a sports shop called Sport It First bought it. They’re opening their third store there. So the building’s being used again. Better than boarding it up and leaving it to rot like some of the others.
Still feels weird though. That building was WHSmith for as long as I can remember. Walking past and seeing a sports shop instead is going to take some getting used to.
The post office situation in Bournemouth has been a nightmare, too. The Westbourne Post Office nearly shut earlier this year. Residents went mental about it; over two thousand people signed a petition to keep it open. They got new management eventually, but it was touch-and-go for a while.
Some WHSmith Bournemouth Post Office branches had post office counters inside them. When those shops closed, the postal services disappeared too. That’s even more hassle for people who don’t do everything online. My dad still insists on sending cards and parcels the old-fashioned way. Each closure makes that harder for him.
Why Is This Happening?
WHSmith as a company is doing this weird thing where their high street shops are dying, but their travel shops, which are the ones in airports and train stations, are making money. So they’re closing the loss-making high street branches and focusing on places where people are trapped waiting for flights or trains with nothing to do except buy overpriced water and crisps.
The Old Christchurch Road branch probably wasn’t making enough money. Can’t blame them for closing it, really. Nobody shops in town anymore. We all got used to ordering online during lockdown and never went back to the old habits. I used to go into town every Saturday. Now I can’t remember the last time I went, apart from last weekend’s Boots trip.
There are also rumours that WHSmith might sell off all its high street stores. The whole lot—around 500 shops. If that happens, WHSmith could completely disappear from British high streets after 230 years. That’s mad when you think about it. A company that’s been around since 1792 just… gone from the high street.
What This Actually Means
For anyone living in Bournemouth, these closures mean more faff getting basic stuff. Need a notebook for work? Used to grab one from WHSmith on your lunch break. Now you’re ordering it online and waiting, or driving out to a retail park somewhere.
It’s not just about convenience, though. Town centres are where you see people, where you chat to neighbours you bump into, and where you feel like you’re part of something. Every shop that closes makes the town quieter. Fewer people visit, so more shops close. Then even fewer people visit. It’s a death spiral, isn’t it?
So What Now?
The WHSmith Bournemouth closing sale in January felt significant at the time. By February, when the Winton one closed too, it was obvious this wasn’t a blip. This is how things are now.
What has happened to Bournemouth town centre is happening everywhere. My cousin lives in Reading, and there is the same story. Empty shops, declining footfall, and everyone shopping online or at retail parks. Some towns are trying to adapt with independent cafes and vintage shops. Others are just slowly dying.
The Bournemouth town centre retail future doesn’t look brilliant, does it? Big chains can’t make it work. Small independents struggle with the rent. Online shopping and retail parks have won. That’s just reality.
I still haven’t bought that birthday card for Harry’s mum, by the way. Her birthday’s next week, and I’ve completely forgotten again. There’s a little independent card shop near the gardens that I might try. They’ll charge more than WHSmith would’ve, but at least they’re still there. Plus, Dave’s mum deserves a nice card after putting up with him for 35 years. The least I can do is support a local business whilst I’m at it.
Assuming it’s still open by the time I get there, anyway.
FAQ’s
Q. Is WHSmith in Bournemouth closing down?
A. Yes, WHSmith has closed its location on Old Church Road in Bournemouth town centre.
Q. When did the WHSmith on Old Christchurch Road close?
A. The store officially closed on January 18, 2025, after a final closing sale.
Q. Why did WHSmith close several stores in Bournemouth?
A. WHSmith is focusing on profitable travel locations like airports and train stations, so loss-making high street branches were closed, including three in Bournemouth within a year.
Q. Will there be any WHSmith services available locally after the closures?
A. Some services, like the post office counters previously inside stores, have disappeared, but customers can still shop online or visit remaining branches outside the town centre.
Q. What has happened to the Old Christchurch Road building?
A. The building was purchased by sports retailer Sport It First, which is opening its third store there.
Q. How are the closures affecting the Bournemouth community?
A. Residents now have to travel further for stationery, books, and postal services, and the town centre is quieter with more empty shops, reflecting the wider challenges of high street retail.