A MAP has revealed where 69 Morrisons stores and cafes are set to close as part of as part of a country-wide reshuffle.
The beloved budget supermarket will be scrapping 52 cafes and 17 stores in a cost-cutting shake-up.
AlamyMorrisons is closing tens of stores in a bid to cut costs[/caption]
AlamySome 52 cafes and 17 stores will be scrapped across the UK[/caption]
Morrisons said they are “not taking the decision lightly” as 365 staff members are plunged into potential redundancy.
As well as stores and cafes, certain services are set to close with 18 Market Kitchens, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies also getting the axe.
Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons, said the plans announced yesterday would “reinvigorate” the chain and create opportunities for it to invest in other areas of the business.
He said: “In most locations, the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.
“Market Street is a beacon of differentiation for Morrisons and we remain committed to it.
“But as we modernise we are making some necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic.
“In some stores where we are closing counters or Cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer.”
The top boss said he’s aware of the disruption that will be caused by the closures and claimed the brand will “look after” them during the restructuring.
He continued: “Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues.
“We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”
This is the full list of cafes that will close:
Bradford Thornbury
Paisley Falside Rd
London Queensbury
Portsmouth Great Park
Banchory North Deeside Rd
Failsworth Poplar Street
Blackburn Railway Road
Leeds Swinnow Rd
London Wood Green
Kirkham Poulton St
Lutterworth Bitteswell Rd
Stirchley
Leeds Horsforth
London Erith
Crowborough
Bellshill John St
Dumbarton Glasgow Rd
East Kilbride Lindsayfield
East Kilbride Stewartfield
Glasgow Newlands
Largs Irvine Rd
Troon Academy St
Wishaw Kirk Rd
Newcastle UT Cowgate
Northampton Kettering Road
Bromsgrove Buntsford Ind Pk
Solihull Warwick Rd
Brecon Free St
Caernarfon North Rd
Hadleigh
London – Harrow – Hatch End
High Wycombe Temple End
Leighton Buzzard Lake St
London Stratford
Sidcup Westwood Lane
Welwyn Garden City Black Fan Rd
Warminster Weymouth St
Oxted Station Yard
Reigate Bell St
Borehamwood
Weybridge – Monument Hill
Bathgate
Erskine Bridgewater SC
Gorleston Blackwell Road
Connah’s Quay
Mansfield Woodhouse
Elland
Gloucester – Metz Way
Watford – Ascot Road
Littlehampton – Wick
Helensburgh
This is the full list of Morrisons Daily convenience stores that will close:
Gorleston Lowestoft Road
Peebles 3-5 Old Town
Shenfield 214 Hutton Road
Poole Waterloo Estate
Tonbridge Higham Lane Est
Romsey The Cornmarket
Stewarton Lainshaw Street
Selsdon Featherbed Lane
Haxby Village
Great Barr Queslett R
Whickham Oakfield Road
Worle
Goring-By-Sea Strand Para
Woking Westfield Road
Wokingham 40 Peach Street
Exeter 51 Sidwell Street
Bath Moorland Road
The big shake-up from Morrisons comes just months after Mr Baitiéh slammed the upcoming hikes to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and national minimum wage.
Baitiéh took over as chief executive of the supermarket in November 2023 with the hope to salvage Morrison’s declining sales and dropping market shares.
He told The Sun he had urged Labour to consider the combined wall of costs retailers face.
From next month, businesses will pay a higher rate of NICs of 15 per cent, from 13.8 per cent.
It is believed the cost solely from National Insurance changes will hit Morrisons by around £75million.
Mr Baitieh said: “The National Insurance change adds insult to injury. The problem is that it’s an avalanche of costs that is coming all at once.
“So I have asked them, can we not defer some of it or go step by step, like a doctor would do — raising the dose with seven pills over seven days.”
Plenty of other retailers are closing stores across the high street as households lean more towards online shopping and amid high business rates.
Soaring inflation in recent years has also dented shoppers’ pockets.
The Centre for Retail Research’s latest analysis suggests 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, shut for good in 2024.
Of those, 11,341 were independent shops while 2,138 were shut by larger retailers.
The data also showed over half the stores that closed last year were shut due to the store or retailer going through debt.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
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