TGJones is set to close its Ripon branch, just over a year after taking over the former WHSmith store in the heart of the city.

Closing-down signs have appeared in the shop window, with customers being offered 30% off as the retailer looks to clear its remaining stock.

The closure will bring an end to a near-century of bookselling and stationery retailing at the site, which has been a familiar feature of Ripon city centre for more than 90 years.

WHSmith first opened in Ripon in 1935, with the store continuing to sell books, stationery and magazines after the high-street business was rebranded as TGJones.

The closure is part of a wider programme of cuts by TGJones, which has already shut 36 stores in 2026 and expects to close a further 34 by early 2027.

Private equity firm Modella Capital, which bought WHSmith's former high-street business last year and subsequently rebranded it as TGJones, has said the retailer is unviable in its current form.

The Stray Ferret reported on Thursday that Scarborough had become the latest town to be hit by the closure programme.

Like Harrogate, the Scarborough branch also has a post office. Ripon's TGJones store does not offer postal services, but its departure will nevertheless leave a significant gap in the city's historic market square.