McColl’s shops in Mid Argyll spared closure

McColl’s shops in Lochgilphead and Ardrishaig have been spared the axe after new owners Morrisons announced plans to close 132 loss-making convenience stores, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.

The supermarket chain agreed to buy McColl’s out of administration in May.

The list of stores earmarked for closure includes McColls shops on Fort William’s Glenloy Street, and Helensburgh’s Churchill Square, both of which include post offices.

The McColls shops on Oban’s George Street and Dunoon have also been spared.

The majority will be closed ‘in an orderly fashion’ over the rest of this year, and those with post offices next year.

Workers who could be made redundant will be offered jobs elsewhere in the business, the supermarket giant said.

There are currently 1,164 McColl’s stores trading, 286 of which operate under the Morrisons Daily brand.

Morrisons now plans to convert most of its remaining McColl’s stores into Morrisons Daily shops.

A spokesperson said: ‘McColl’s is a business of significant scale, with an annual turnover of £1.2 billion, representing around 0.8 per cent of the UK grocery market.

‘However, a number of McColl’s stores have been loss-making for some time and although some of these stores will be able to return to profitability over time, there are 132 stores where there is no realistic prospect of achieving a break-even position in the medium term.

‘The majority of these 132 stores will now be closed in an orderly fashion over the remainder of the year.

‘Regrettably this means that around 1,300 McColl’s colleagues will be placed at risk of redundancy.

‘Every affected colleague, however, will be offered alternative employment at a nearby McColl’s store, Morrisons store, logistics operation or food-making centre.

‘Of the 132 stores that will close, 55 include a post office counter.

‘Recognising the particular importance of the community post office counters to their local areas, especially around Christmas, Morrisons will delay the closure of these 55 stores until next year to enable them to serve their communities through Christmas and to allow the post office additional time to make alternative arrangements.

‘There are no further store closures currently being considered but we remain in discussions with a number of landlords of challenged stores.’