// Morrisons confirms that a total of four stores will close down
// Yesterday it was revealed that Crawley would shut down, but 3 more are now set to close
// The closures are part of a routine review of Morrison’s 494 stores
// Around 400 jobs are thought to be at risk as consultation begins
Morrisons has confirmed plans to close down four of its stores, putting around 400 staff at risk of losing their jobs.
The Big 4 grocer said the closures are part of a “constant review” of its existing portfolio, which consists of 494 stores.
It added that while it has decided to close down four stores, it would invest in four others.
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Yesterday it was revealed that the Crawley store in West Sussex, which only opened five years ago, would close down.
Since then, another three stores have been revealed as earmarked for closure: Regents Circus in Swindon, Shirley in Solihull, and Ince in Wigan.
Morrisons released a statement confirming it would be consulting with affected staff to discuss how to reduce redundancies.
The Crawley store, which employs 128, is expected to have the biggest share of job cuts, followed by the Swindon store, which employs 113.
“As we continue to focus on building a broader, stronger Morrisons we are constantly reviewing opportunities for new stores and the performance of our existing estate,” a Morrisons spokesperson said.
“We are planning to invest in four new stores this year and are today, regrettably, proposing to close four.
“We will now be going through a consultation process at the stores and will be discussing how to reduce redundancies and, where possible, redeploy our highly valued colleagues within the business.”
The news comes as Morrions’ market share is being chipped away by the likes of Aldi and Lidl, with the former in particular closing in on Morrisons.
According to Kantar Worldpanel’s recent data, fourth-placed Morrisons’ current market share stands at 10.1 per cent compared to fifth-placed Aldi’s 8.1 per cent.
This time last year, Morrisons’ market share was 10.3 per cent while Aldi’s was much smaller at 7.6 per cent.
Despite this, Morrisons is performing well as a business.
According to its full-year results for the period ending February 3, underlying pre-tax profits came in at £406 million – an 8.6 per cent year-on-year uplift.
Operating profit before exceptionals was £465 million, a 4.5 per cent year-on-year increase.
This marked Morrison’s third straight year of profits.
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Morisons have declined in quality and range in recent months Also Morrisons petrol stations now charge to put air in your tyres. Previously you got free air if you spent £15 on petrol. This is mean of Morrisons. I no longer fill up at their stores and am less likely to shop their. Sainsburys still does free air.
yes agree with you and the petrol is always more than others in the area
I think they need to shut the one in Ilkeston Derbyshire the shelves are never stocked up you have to fined someone to get it from the back the meet always looks of and some most of the staff are rude. The quality of stuff has gone down hill but the price has stayed the same if not gone up
The Tavistock store close to me looks really poor the standards and the availability of stock is shocking.
None of the staff ever smile when you go through the tills. The staffing level in the main store is really poor, as an ex retail manager it is so frustrating to see.
The Totnes store is great!
I don’t think they stand for much, or are at least not doing a very good job of pulling in sales and profit. They don’t offer value or quality. Market Street seems to almost be nothing these days. Still waiting for my replacement match & more card.
So Crawley is to close, maybe the site is worth a lot more for housing development?
Maybe so, but Crawley had , at one time loads of office blocks which stood empty and still do, the majority have been turned into blocks of flats.
Whilst these are empty for a while, they are not a easy way of making an investment and whilst these may be needed, there are no new Doctors Surgeries being but WE HAVE NO HOSPITAL EITHER, WE HAVE TO GO TO EAST SURREY IN REDHILL.
The self serviec tills never work, it nearly always comes with “unusaul item in bagging area” despite you telling it you have brought your own bag.
I echo Jposeph Douglas comments about the Free Air.
I have personally vetoed Morrisons choisng to go to another supermaket it may be a fw miles away but, at least you don not get problems like that and their petrol is usually cheaper.
It’s obviously upper management who are the problem for poor staff service as clearly it affects many stores and is also probably the reason for poor stock levels because they haven’t got a proper grip of the situation and in my opinion are mediocre. When a business has high staff turnover like at our local morrisons, then you know something is very wrong with morrisons culture.