Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Gap announces shock closure of Perth store with staff told two days before Christmas

Gap on Perth High Street has announced its sudden closure, having notified staff two days before Christmas they would be losing their jobs.

The clothing store chain will shut on January 31, giving shocked employees just six weeks notice.

The Perth store is believed to be the only Gap outlet marked for closure this month in Scotland, with 11 staff members losing their livelihoods.

One, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had spent the Christmas week writing CVs after being told they were being made redundant.

Gap store on the High Street in Perth

They said: “We got a provisional notice on the 19th and that went to consultation and they officially signed on the Monday, which was the 23rd.

“We’re a well-performing store so it was a shock to hear. Nobody wants to be job hunting over Christmas.

“Between Christmas and New Year, writing CVs in not something anyone wants to be doing but it’s such a short notice period you need to do it.”

Employees, some of whom had worked for the retailer for more than five years, said they were given the option of working in Edinburgh but without being given any extra travel expenses.

The closure of Gap is another blow to Perth city centre which saw a number of shops close in the last 12 months. The futures of companies operating in keystone sites such as Beales, Debenhams and Bonmarche are also uncertain.

Last year on the High Street, BrightHouse and Thorntons shut and popular bakery Goodfellow and Steven moved all its employees to the Scott Street shop.

Video above this article highlights shop closures in Perth ciy centre in the past 12 months.

Perth High Street store one of 30 BrightHouse branches to shut

Other shops, including This Little Piggy and Bead Crazy, which had been trading for 21 years and 14 years respectively also closed down in the city centre.

Most of the sites remain vacant.

Staff at Gap fear they will struggle to find other employment in the retail sector given the current climate.

The employee said: “So many shops are closing down and because Perth is such a small place you’re up against people you’ve worked with for ages.”

Perth City Centre SNP councillor Eric Drysdale said he was thinking of the employees affected by the closure.

“(It is) Dreadful news that another clothing retailer, Gap, is to close its Perth city centre store at the end of January.

“Thoughts are with the staff, especially at this time of year.”

Gap has been contacted for comment.