Sainsbury’s closes Argos stores leading to job cuts

 More bad news for the retail sector. Sainsbury’s has announced that it is going to close 420 Argos outlets and all its meat, fish and deli counters. The former will stop operating by March 2024. However, the firm will open 150 Argos shops in its supermarkets.

This decision is a response to consumers’ changing habits and the growth of online shopping, according to the boss Simon Roberts. With lower customer demands, the counter closures seem to be a good idea to reduce food waste. Moreover, the firm has released its half-year results which reveal a £137m loss.

Sainsbury’s purchased Argos in 2016. After the first lockdown in March, 120 of these standalone stores did not reopen. These will definitely be part of the outlets that will stop operating. After this restructuring process, the number of Argos stores open to the public is going to be 100. Thanks to these developments, the firm will be able to save about £600m by 2024.

Nonetheless, this means that 3500 people are likely to lose their jobs. Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive advanced that they are going to work really hard to find alternative roles for those impacted. Moreover, it expects that it will create 6,000 new positions by the end of the year.

Argos stores are part of a restructuring process © Royalty-free image