Just a day after figures reveal that online retail sales surged 80 per cent across the UK to a record level in July, the demise of ChoicesUK provides yet another example of the pressure on traditional high-street stores.

While larger names such as WHSmith are protected to a degree by their ability to discount, the power of the web is beginning to blow away smaller players.

Trading at ChoicesUK was thought to have picked up in the past three months given the dismal weather, but the company has still not been able to secure a financial lifeline.

Its shares were suspended at 10.25p, valuing the UK’s second-biggest DVD rental chain behind Blockbuster at just £1.9 million. Debts were around the £13 million mark.

The demise follows the collapse of Apollo Video Film Hire, the UK’s number three DVD chain, before Easter.

Both suffered from DVD piracy and cheaper prices for new DVDs, but it is the rise of online players such as Lovefilm, which post films out to members, that has proved fatal.

ChoicesUK’s distribution business, where it supplies a host of independent retailers with DVDs, has some value to potential buyers, but they are unlikely to pick up the chain in its current form.

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