A big-name brand has announced that it will be closing one of its North East stores after admitting that trade has fallen within the regional branch. 

H&M in Hartlepool is set to close its doors after the company said it had experienced a "rapid change in customer behaviour" and has put this down as the reason to close the branch.

The store within the Middleton Grange shopping centre has managed to survive other 'cutbacks' from the company, but a statement on Wednesday (January 25) confirmed the store would close for good.

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An exact date for the closure has not yet been confirmed.

The statement said: "During the last few years, we have seen a rapid change in customer behaviour that we cannot ignore.

"We continuously need to evaluate and develop our business to meet our customers’ needs and offer the best possible shopping experience, whether it’s online or in our physical stores.

"Our ambition is to continue investing in our customers, open new stores where we see opportunities and develop our digital channels. We continuously evaluate how we should invest in stores and sometimes decisions must be made to enable long-term growth."

"This means that we sometimes need to close stores. This decision has been made for our Hartlepool store," it added.

"Customer behaviour is constantly changing, and we need to adapt accordingly," the spokesperson continued. "We want to be where our customers are.

"At H&M, we are constantly working to integrate physical and digital stores, we want to find the strength in each channel and make the customer journey smooth."