Waitrose to close three stores and sell one to Tesco

The grocery arm of John Lewis said it would be shutting its stores in Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange and Shrewsbury on December 6 and had reached an agreement with Tesco for the sale of another store in Wolverhampton by the end of trade on December 31. 

The retailer said the closures would put 124 staff at risk of redundancy, while the 140 who work at the Wolverhampton store would become Tesco employees under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) legislation. 

Waitrose said all four areas would continue to be serviced by its online offer and the closures were part of the retailer’s ongoing review of its store estate, which began in 2017. 

The retailer said it had “found trading challenging in these four shops and, despite the best efforts of partners, [it had] not been able to find a way to make them profitable in the long term”.

John Lewis’ executive director of customer service Bérangère Michel said: “Closing any of our shops is always a last resort and is not a reflection on the dedication of our partners in Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.

“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. 

“Our priority now is the wellbeing and future of our partners in these shops. We will do everything we can to support them and explore opportunities wherever possible for those who may wish to remain with the Partnership.”

The retailer committed to providing support for affected staff at the three stores through a “unique Retraining Fund”, providing up to £3,000 towards retraining for all staff who have been with the organisation for two years or more. 

For those staff with a year’s service or more, they will also be entitled to partnership redundancy pay on top of statutory pay.