Morrisons issues statement on Sheffield stores amid plans to close 100 former McColl's
The company says the stores are loss-making
Morrisons is planning to shut about 100 loss-making convenience stores as the supermarket faces cost pressures it says have been worsened by “Government policy”.
The shops set for closure are all former McColl’s.
Morrisons rescued the chain in 2022, including six in Sheffield: Rural Lane, Wisewood; Ecclesall Road South, Hutcliffe Wood Road, Margetson Crescent, Low Edges Road and Green Lane, Dronfield.
It announced the closure of the Hutcliffe Wood Road shop, in Beauchief, six months later.
The company has not said which stores now face the axe, as hundreds of workers fear redundancy.
But in a statetment to The Star, it confirmed none were in Sheffield.
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 particular Government policy choices were also not detailed, but it comes at a time when many retailers have faced rising business costs including higher minimum wages and last year’s national insurance rate hike.
Morrisons has around 1,700 convenience shops as well as about 500 supermarkets, and employs some 95,000 staff.
But alongside the fresh closure plans, Morrisons stressed that it was still spotting opportunities to open hundreds more franchise convenience stores in the years ahead.
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