SOME high streets have reached “peak coffee shops” – but there is no sign that the public are going off the experience of the £3 coffee.

That’s the view of a retailing expert in a week which saw a sales slowdown in Costa and the confirmation that Thorntons would close its cafe and shop at Castlepoint.

Like-for-like sales at Costa dipped 0.1 per cent in the three months to November 30, according to its owner Whitbread.

Castlepoint now has two Costa franchises, after one opened in a refurbished Next store last year in addition to the outlet in WHSmith.

The chain also has a franchised branch in Bournemouth’s Primark, not far from a standalone Costa on Old Christchurch Road.

Jeff Bray, senior lecturer in marketing and retail management at Bournemouth University, said the slowdown at Costa was not significant.

“Clearly the growth rate can’t continue ad infinitum, so the number of coffee shops on the high street and shopping centres has to plateau at some point,” he said.

“This is entirely natural because, over the course of the year, so many more shops have opened up and they’ve been opening up for the first time at a faster pace than demand for coffees is growing. So it’s entirely logical that in many towns we’ve reached the point of maximum coffee shops.

“There wouldn’t be much demand for any more. I don’t think it marks a change in consumer practice.”

Thorntons has said its Castlepoint venue will close because it is “continuously reviewing our estate to ensure we are in the locations that meet our customer needs”.

Dr Bray said Thorntons had been through difficulties in recent years and lost its unique selling proposition when it began selling its chocolate through supermarkets.

“They then branched out and started to sell coffee in some areas but for most people they would rather go to a coffee shop with a known brand of coffee where they know what they’re getting, rather than Thorntons, ” he said.

He said Costa franchises were increasingly incorporated into other stores, whose operators were happy have a known brand to drive footfall.

“Many high streets have reached the point of peak coffee shops,” he added.

But he said there was no sign of any other high street phenomenon outpacing coffee.

“Selling coffee is still one of the most profitable substances on the planet apart from popcorn,” he added.