Anger of staff as village’s shop shut down suddenly
WORKERS at an Aughton convenience store were left stunned after being called in to find their shop had closed down.
Staff at the Spar on Town Green Lane were asked to come into a meeting last Tuesday, only to be informed of the immediate closure.
According to one member of staff, the store’s manager was unaware of any clo- sure and had only suspected something was amiss when the computer system prevented him from ordering stock that morning.
Some staff members even believed that the meeting may have been about a refurbishment. Instead, they learnt of the closure and their only remaining shifts will require clearing out the store.
Among the staff who were called to the meeting was a pensioner who had been hired just two days earlier and another staff member who was on maternity leave.
Workers were reportedly told they could move to other stores with vacancies or leave the company at the end of the week.
According to one employee, who did not want be named, the shop has been in the town for more than three decades but struggled to compete with the Co-op store which opened across the road in August 2017.
The employee did however say that several customers refuse to use that store as they wished to remain loyal to Spar.
A store closure notice was placed in the window of Spar and staff told they could continue working until the following Sunday.
One Aughton resident slammed the company as ‘disgusting’ for the way it treated the staff.
She said: “The way the management and HR have treated them is disgusting.
“They’ve all gone into work today, been called into a meeting today and told they’ve not got a job.
“There’s people in there who’ve got kids, got responsibilities, and now they’ve got no job and no time to find another one. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Spar has been approached for comment.