Health supplement retailer Revital has closed its Putney High Street shop, leaving residents dependent on financially troubled Holland & Barrett for specialist supplements and vitamins.
The closure over the weekend adds to a deepening retail crisis on this stretch of the High Street, where half the units now stand empty or boarded up. Revital’s departure follows Eastern Natural Care’s September closure, eliminating two specialist health retailers within four months.
Signs posted in Revital’s windows direct customers to branches in King’s Road Chelsea or Richmond, both requiring significant travel from Putney. For specialist supplements, Chinese herbs, or holistic health products, residents now face either lengthy journeys or reliance on Holland & Barrett at 99-101 Putney High Street.
Holland & Barrett’s precarious position
That dependence carries its own risks. Holland & Barrett has lost £186.7 million over the past three years despite growing sales, according to company filings. The chain reported a £61.8 million pre-tax loss for the year ending September 2024, its third consecutive annual loss.
The retailer is owned by LetterOne, the investment vehicle founded by sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman. While Fridman stepped down from the board after UK and EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he retains a frozen shareholding in the parent company.
The company has invested heavily in store renovations and new products, driving sales growth but deepening losses.
Pattern of decline
The health retail contraction reflects a broader collapse on this section of the High Street. An eight-unit stretch near Revital now contains four closed, closing or boarded-up properties, one charity shop, one newsagent, and two hairdressers.
The vacant or closing units represent every commercial retail business on that stretch. What survives are charity shops operating on minimal rent, essential services like newsagents that cannot be replaced online, and personal service businesses like hairdressers requiring physical presence.
Eastern Natural Care, which offered acupuncture, massage and Chinese medicine at 71 Putney High Street, closed in September after struggling for some time. The property is now fully boarded up, including first-floor windows, as a defensive measure against squatters.
Broader retail crisis
The closures occur against a backdrop of accelerating UK retail contraction. An estimated 15,000 stores are expected to close in 2025, double the 7,325 closures recorded in 2024, according to research firm Coresight Research.
Health and wellness retail faces particular pressure. Beauty chain stores and pharmacies have been among the hardest hit sectors.
Revital operates approximately 30 stores nationally. The company, founded in 1990, specialises in natural health products, vitamins, supplements and organic foods. Its Putney branch had been a fixture on the High Street for years.
The loss of specialist retailers leaves Putney’s High Street increasingly dominated by chains, charity shops, and vacant properties, reflecting a transformation in how residents access goods and services once routinely available locally.
