Supermarket is spared as Waitrose shuts stores

WAITROSE stores are set to close but their only North Wales supermarket is not on the hitlist.

Retail giant John Lewis Partnership last week said it will pay out its lowest staff bonus since 1953 as it revealed a 23% profits plunge and store closure plans.

This has seen them announce that three Waitrose stores will close later this year.

These are at Helensburgh in Scotland, Four Oaks in the West Midlands, and Waterlooville near Portsmouth.

It means the future of the only Waitrose store in North Wales – located in Menai Bridge on Anglesey – is secure at the moment.

The group opened its first North Wales store back in 2010.

At one time they had been tipped to increase their presence in the region and had been linked with potential new developments.

But two years ago they said their focus had now moved to its existing store portfolio.

The group last week said it is cutting its staff bonus for the seventh year running, to 2% of annual salary, after seeing underlying pre-tax profits tumble to £123 million for the year to January 25.

New chairwoman Dame Sharon White

– who took the helm at the group behind John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets last month – outlined a plan to return the group to profit growth, including “right sizing” its store estate and slimming down its head office.

Dame Sharon said: “We need to reverse our profit decline and return to growth so that we can invest more in our customers and in our partners.”