Independent furniture retailer forced to close one of its two stores and calls for more council support

19th March | independents | A furniture retailer in the south east of England has called on councils to do more to support independents after being forced to leave one of its two stores. The lease at Oak Interiors’ Crayford store is expiring and the landlord plans to redevelop the site.

The company, which has another store in Sussex, is on the lookout for a new Crayford site but will trade in the area via its warehouse in the meantime. Store owner Nick Smith said councils should enforce planning laws to prevent high streets being decimated and towns becoming dominated by large chains.

Oak Interiors is holding a £500,000 stock clearance sale at the Crayford store in advance of its closure at the end of the month. The company was started by Smith’s grandfather in 1918 and had been trading from the Crayford site for nearly a decade.