John Lewis to shut eight more stores
JOHN Lewis is to shut eight more stores in a move which will put 1,465 jobs at risk.
The department store retailer told staff yesterday morning that it will not reopen the stores after lockdown measures lift, as it undergoes a major shift in strategy to adapt to changing shopping habits.
The eight shops set to close comprise four At Home stores in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells and four department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York.
It said its remaining 34 John Lewis shops in England will reopen from April 12 subject to Government guidance. Its Glasgow store will open on April 26 and Edinburgh on May 14.
The announcement came eight months after the high street stalwart closed another eight stores, in a move which cut around 1,300 jobs, in the first stage of a sweeping overhaul.
John Lewis Partnership said yesterday that it will also transfer the operations of its Waitrose distribution centre in Leyland, Lancashire, to XPO Logistics.
It said 436 Waitrose staff at the site will be transferred to XPO.
John Lewis has been buoyed by soaring online sales in recent months but these were not sufficient to offset its decline in store sales as it tumbled to a £517 million pre-tax
34 The number of John Lewis stores in England which will reopen
loss for the year to January.
It was the first loss in the group’s history dating back to 1864.
Earlier this month, the John Lewis Partnership confirmed it would shut more sites and said its partners would not receive an annual bonus for the first time in 68 years.
It said it expects its financials to get worse over the current financial year as it continues its shake-up and warned staff they are not expected to receive a bonus until 2022-23.
Last year, the company announced separate plans to axe around 1,500 head office jobs to help cut costs.
The move was intended to help the business save around £50 million as part of wider plans to reduce total costs by £300 million.
The decision to close the John Lewis store in the centre of Sheffield, which was at the heart of a £480 million regeneration project, has been described as a “hammer blow”.
It is only six months since Sheffield City Council agreed a multimillionpound deal with the department store company to restructure the lease of the landmark 1960s Cole Brothers building, opposite City Hall and the war memorial.
The deal was struck after the site was confirmed as a lynchpin of the Heart of the City II scheme – an ongoing £480 million investment in a fundamental regeneration of Sheffield city centre.