Morrisons to close 132 McColl’s stores; 1,300 jobs under threat

Supermarket giant Morrisons on Tuesday said 1,300 jobs were under threat as it announced plans to shut 132 loss-making stores of its McColl’s subsidiary.

Morrisons announced a £190-million rescue deal for the troubled convenience store chain in May, preventing 16,000 redundancies at its 1,100 outlets.

But it said “a number of McColl’s stores have been loss-making for some time” and there were “132 stores where there is no realistic prospect” of them breaking even in the medium term.

“The majority of these 132 stores will now be closed in an orderly fashion over the remainder of the year,” it added in a statement.

“Regrettably this means that around 1,300 McColl’s colleagues will be placed at risk of redundancy.

“Every affected colleague however will be offered alternative employment at a nearby McColl’s store, Morrisons store, logistics operation or foodmaking centre.”

Regulator the Competition and Markets Authority approved Morrisons takeover on October 27 on condition it sold 28 McColl’s stores due to competition concerns.

McColl’s saw sales surge at the height of the coronavirus pandemic because of the closure of pubs and restaurants.

But its financial situation worsened last year as restrictions were lifted, seeing revenues fall 11 per cent.

Morrisons itself was bought in October last year by a US private equity firm, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, for some £7 billion.