Over 400 of the UK's biggest stores could be on the brink of closure, with supermarkets and major chains facing an uncertain future.
Industry leaders warn that a proposed business rates hike could push already-struggling retailers over the edge.
The British Retail Consortium has conducted fresh analysis showing these large-format stores, which include supermarkets and department stores, would struggle to survive if subjected to the proposed higher tax band affecting properties with rateable values exceeding £500,000.
Retailers are already under pressure from rising staff costs, higher taxes, and growing business rates bills, challenges that have already forced 1,000 major stores to close in the last five years.
If these 400 shops were to shut, the sector could lose up to 100,000 jobs, hitting employment hard across the country.
Councils would also take a big hit, with business rates revenue from retail expected to drop by more than £100million a year, adding to the strain on already stretched public services.
The 4,000 major retail premises currently operating across Britain employ roughly one million workers, representing a third of the sector's three million-strong workforce.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson emphasised the crucial role these stores play in supporting local economies.
She said: "Britain's largest shops are magnets, pulling people into high streets, shopping centres and retail parks, supporting thousands of surrounding cafes, restaurants and smaller and independent shops."
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has warned an ‘extremely challenging year for local shops’. | GettyShe warned that communities across the nation had already witnessed the devastating effects of retail closures.
"After years of rising costs, far too many stores have disappeared leaving behind empty shells that once thrived at the heart of our communities."
Ms Dickinson urged the Chancellor to take decisive action in the autumn Budget by excluding major retail premises from the proposed higher business rates tax band.
Britain's high streets have been hit by a wave of store and restaurant chain closures | PAThe retail sector currently contributes more than 20 per cent of total business rates revenue despite representing only five per cent of the UK economy.
Major stores alone shoulder approximately a third of the industry's entire rates burden.
Operating margins remain razor-thin across retail, ranging from two per cent to four per cent for food retailers.
High street shops across the UK continue to close | GETTYAny substantial increase in business rates would leave stores with limited options: raising prices for consumers, reducing staff numbers or shutting down operations entirely.
The BRC has proposed an alternative approach that would maintain Treasury revenues whilst protecting retail jobs.
Their solution involves redistributing the tax burden to other large commercial properties such as office buildings, where business rates represent a smaller proportion of operating costs.