The Co-operative Group is to close a second batch of poor-performing Somerfield stores this month with the loss of around 250 jobs, The Grocer can reveal.
As many as 11 stores, from North Yorkshire to Wiltshire and from Wales to Suffolk, will close in the next fortnight due to “poor trading performance”.
It is the second wave of closures for the society in as many months.
In September, The Grocer revealed The Co-op Group was to close six stores with the loss of 150 jobs as part of the “tail end of anticipated Somerfield closures”.
A spokeswoman for The Co-op said the latest closures were a continuation of this but insisted that the society was continuing to invest in its food business.
“As we divest loss-making stores, we are investing millions in new stores, and from September to the end of the year we plan to have opened up to 20 new stores,” she said.
This includes £2m on a former Netto store in Birtley, County Durham; £1m on a store in Fleet, Hampshire; £1.4m on two stores in Manchester and £1m on two stores in Scotland, including one in Bearsden, which opened last week.
The closures follow a tough few months for the society. It blamed intense competition, faltering consumer confidence and government spending cuts for a 3.6% fall in half-year like-for-like food sales in the 26 weeks to 2 July.
And last month The Grocer revealed The Co-op Group was to make the equivalent of 390 full-time redundancies across 35 stores following a review of staff hours across its food estate. However, it insisted the review would “significantly increase” the number of hours worked across its estate.
Meanwhile, The Cooperative Group has pledged to invest £7.5m in its Enterprise Hub - which offers help and advice to new co-ops - between 2012 and 2014. The society revealed this week that the Enterprise Hub had supported almost 700 co-ops to date after being rolled out across the UK earlier this year.
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