The supermarket company Waitrose
has announced that it is going to permanently close four stores in the UK. This
comes after its decision to shut down eight John Lewis outlets. According to
the retailer, 124 employees are now on consultation and branches that are
struggling will be axed in December.
Which shops will be affected? The Caldicot, Ipswich Corn
Exchange and Shrewsbury branches will close on the 6th of the last
month of the year and the Wolverhampton outlet, that is going to be sold to Tesco, will stop operating on the 31st.
The Ipswich supermarket in Futura Park will remain open. This decision means
that 124 workers risk losing their jobs. Nonetheless, the employees in the Wolverhampton
shop will all be transferred to the acquirer’s stores. Additionally, those who
have been working with Waitrose for more than 12 months are going to receive
two weeks' pay for every year of service. Others will get one week’s
contractual pay.
According to the supermarket company, this decision
is part of a restructuring process that started in 2017. Bérangère Michel,
executive director of customer service at Waitrose,
advanced, “Closing any of our shops is always a last resort […].Sadly, we have
not been able to find a way to make these shops profitable in the long-term,
despite the hard work of everyone involved”.
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