Morrisons is set to close approximately 100 loss-making convenience stores as the supermarket grapples with cost pressures it attributes to "Government policy."
The stores earmarked for closure are said to have been unprofitable for several years and were formerly McColl's outlets, which the chain took over in 2022. The proposals would see the stores shuttered within the coming months, with hundreds of shop workers understood to be facing redundancy.
A spokesman for Morrisons said: "The performance of all company owned stores across our convenience business is subject to continuous review. This process has identified a number of stores, which were part of the McColl's acquisition, whose performance has been challenged for a number of years and which are loss making, despite remedial action. This situation has been exacerbated in more recent years by significant cost increases resulting from Government policy choices, which have made returning these stores to profitability even more difficult. Having completed the review, we are now proposing to take the tough but necessary decision to close a number of these stores over the next few months."
The specific Government policy choices were not given, though the announcement comes amid a period in which many retailers have been contending with mounting business costs, including higher minimum wages and last year's national insurance rate increase. Morrisons runs about 1,700 convenience stores alongside approximately 500 supermarkets, and has a workforce of some 95,000 staff. However, alongside the latest round of closure announcements, Morrisons emphasised that it continues to identify opportunities to launch hundreds more franchise convenience outlets in the coming years.
The supermarket chain also maintained that the proposed closures combined with its strategy for new locations would be "improving the quality of our convenience estate and making it stronger overall." Last month, Morrisons informed employees it was beginning a consultation process regarding redundancies at its Bradford head office, affecting fewer than 10% of positions at the site. The grocer has also recently closed a number of its cafés, convenience shops, florists and fresh food counters as part of a restructuring programme which resulted in several hundred job losses.
