York’s John Lewis department store is to shut permanently, it was revealed today.
The retailer announced that the Vangarde shop was one of eight more of its stores to close.
The department store retailer told staff on Wednesday morning that it will not reopen the stores after lockdown measures lift, as it undergoes a major shift in strategy to adapt to changing shopping habits.
The York store only opened seven years ago, in April 2014. It originally employed 300 people. That had reduced to 209.
A company spokesman said: “We will enter into consultation with the 209 affected York partners about our proposals. Should we proceed, we will seek to find alternative roles in the partnership for as many as possible.”
Kylie Gilson, John Lewis York branch manager, said: “It has been a huge privilege to work alongside such brilliant partners at the Vangarde Shopping Park and it is with a heavy heart that we share the proposal to close the store.
“We hope that if the closure goes ahead we would still see many of our customers in nearby Waitrose shops and John Lewis Leeds.”
The other seven shops set to close are four At Home stores in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells and three department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough and Sheffield.
Phil Pinder, chair of York Retail Forum, said: “It’s a ludicrous decision to close stores based on the shopping habits of one year.
“I think John Lewis closing further stores is a decision they will come to regret.
“For York this now casts more light on the whole development of Vanguarde and the stadium complex.
“Hopefully this is not the beginning of other retailers pulling out.”
Hundreds of job losses
Today’s announcement came eight months after John Lewis closed another eight stores, in a move which cut around 1,300 jobs, in the first stage of a sweeping overhaul.
The retailer has been buoyed by soaring online sales in recent months but these were not sufficient to offset its decline in store sales as it tumbled to a £517 million pre-tax loss for the year to January.
It was the first loss in the group’s history dating back to 1864.
Earlier this month, the John Lewis Partnership confirmed it would shut more sites and said its partners would not receive an annual bonus for the first time in 68 years.
It said it expects its financials to get worse over the current financial year as it continues its shake-up and warned staff they are not expected to receive a bonus until 2022-23.
Last year, the company announced separate plans to axe around 1,500 head office jobs to help cut costs.
The move was intended to help the business save around £50 million as part of wider plans to reduce total costs by £300 million.
A spokesman said: “We expect 60% to 70% of John Lewis sales to be made online in the future. Nearly 50% of our customers now use a combination of both store and online when making a purchase.”