THAT'S Entertainment in the town centre is to close after the retailer decided to axe its high street stores across the country, citing increases in digital sales.

The shop, which sells entertainment products including CDs; DVDs; games and consoles, has placed signs announcing the upcoming closure.

The news was greeted with sadness by shoppers on social media, with the store set to close by the end of May.

St Helens Star:

Signs announcing the closure Pic: Robbob

That's Entertainment owners, Entertainment Magpie confirmed that the closure of the St Helens store is due to a decision to axe all of the chain's 29 shops across the United Kingdom.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "Following a long and considered group consultation period on the long-term viability of the ‘That’s Entertainment’ retail stores across the UK, the decision has been made to regretfully close all of the 29 stores by the end of May 2018."

They added the decision came due to the growing importance of digital sales and declines in retail sales reflecting "current challenges being experienced on the high street".

The statement added: "Online sales continue to drive the performance of the business in the UK, whilst sales through the retail estate, which have been less than 10 per cent of company turnover, have declined by 20 per cent in the last year.

"This is very much reflective of the current challenges being experienced on the high street, with the modern-day consumer shopping more and more online.

"Entertainment Magpie remains the biggest seller in the world on both Amazon and eBay, and our online store has helped to achieve 25 per cent growth in overall year on year UK online sales – again demonstrating the importance and dominance of digital sales channels to the modern consumer."