9 retailers that have slashed jobs in recent months

Hundreds of Poundland employees are facing redundancy after the struggling discount chain unveiled its restructuring plan this week that will see the closure of at least 68 of its stores as well as two distribution centres.

However, the business is not the only one axing jobs in wake of falling sales and rising staffing costs from National Insurance changes. Retail Gazette takes a look at the retailers that have slashed their workforce in recent months.

Poundland

Poundland’s big announcement of what its recovery plan entails comes less than a week after the business was snapped up by specialist investor Gordon Brothers for a “nominal sum”.

While the retailer has confirmed its plans to close 68 of its stores, the company is understood to be seeking steep rent reductions on up to 500 sites which could lead to further closures.

Poundland is also looking to shut down its frozen and digital distribution centre in Darton, South Yorkshire later this year and its national distribution centre at Springvale in Bilston, West Midlands in early 2026.

The plan is estimated to put 1,350 jobs at risk.

Prior to its formal announcement this week, the retailer has closed more than a dozen stores in the last month and saw the departure of 12 senior directors in its digital, commercial, buying, retail, HR and supply chain teams in April.

Currys

Currys set out to slash around 80 jobs at its head office at the end of last month in a bid to offset an increase in costs across the business.

The retailer, which is currently consulting with impacted workers across all its head office functions, faces a £30m rise to its tax bill following changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions and National Minimum Wage.

A Currys spokesperson told Retail Gazette: “Currys is winning in a challenging market, and our performance continues to strengthen. But in an environment where we have new Government headwinds of over £30m this year, we need to work hard to continue to maintain this success.

“As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our central costs in the UK by 10% this financial year, and while we’re committed to protecting our investments in stores and online which are increasing customer satisfaction, this will affect a number of non-customer facing roles in the business. We are working to support those colleagues affected.”

News of the job cuts came as the electricals giant upgraded its profit guidance earlier that week to around £162m for the year to 3 May, surpassing its prior forecast of £160m and original guidance of between £145m and £155m. 

Harvey Nichols

It was reported in May that Harvey Nichols is planning to axe its grocery offer as part of a strategic reset for the business.

The luxury department store is in a consultation with 70 of its employees as it winds down several non-core operations, including its own-brand food, hampers, corporate food sales, and online food marketplace.

The move comes as Harvey Nichols is seeking to sharpen its focus on its fashion, beauty and hospitality offerings under CEO Julia Goddard’s three-year strategy.

The company said that its food division had become a marginal contributor to its earnings.

New Look

New Look is another retailer that has kicked off a business-wide restructure in recent months.

The retailer is understood to have cut around 100 of its employees from its London and Weymouth head offices across various functions last month.

It is believed that New Look’s restructure will enable its functions to be set up in the correct way to deliver its ongoing digital growth strategy.

A spokesperson for the retailer said: “As we look to the future and the next stage of our digital growth strategy, we are evaluating the structures of our support functions to ensure we are appropriately set up to meet the needs of customers.

“Our priority is to support our colleagues through this process. We remain confident in our strategy and take pride in being one of the UK’s leading womenswear retailers, serving our ten million loyal customers in stores and online.”

Nike

Nike is another retailer making redundancies, with a company slashing jobs in its technology division in May.

In an email, a Nike representative said that the company would be moving some of the work in its tech arm to third party vendors. The representative did not confirm how many workers would lose their jobs.

The move comes as Nike continues to struggle in the face of slow consumer demand and declines across key markets. 

The sportswear giant was hit with a 9% decline in its third-quarter revenues, with sales coming in at £9.1bn compared to £10.1bn last year. 

Burberry

Burberry revealed last month plans to reduce its global workforce by up to 1,700 jobs before 2027 after reporting a loss in its preliminary full year results.

The luxury brand’s CEO Joshua Schulman said that the cuts would mostly impact the company’s head offices around the world, although cuts would also be made via reorganising staff rotas in stores and axing one shift at its Castleford trench-coat factory.

Burberry explained the cuts would come under its business-wide cost-cutting drive to bolster its turnaround efforts.

The company said that its rescue strategy would lead to an additional £60m in savings by FY27 and bolster its ambitions to drive £100m in cost-savings per annum. 

Gymshark

It was revealed in April that Gymshark had entered a consultation with almost a third of its workforce as it looks to restructure the entire business.

Around 296 employees were informed their jobs were at risk due as the brand looked to “weather the storm” after experiencing “intense macroeconomic volatility”.

However, the sportswear specialist said that “at the same time” it was set to create 168 new roles to “help drive future growth”.

A Gymshark spokesperson explained that its “immediate priority” was to “help and support those at risk”, while “seeking to offer as many of them as possible these new roles”. 

The Original Factory Shop

The Original Factory Shop’s new owner Modella Capital set out plans to impose steep rent cuts over half of the company’s store estate in April, placing almost 1,000 roles at risk.

The owner planned to renegotiate rents at 88 of the business’s 178 shops as part of a company voluntary arrangement, Sky News first reported.

The retailer said that it had told staff about its restructuring plans at the time and had launched a consultation with its impacted store workers in case the rent negotiations were unsuccessful.

The Original Factory Shop noted that some of its 176 head office and warehouse staff based in Burnley also faced risk of redundancy. The chain’s creditors were asked to vote on the plans during a meeting in mid-May.

Hobbycraft

Fellow Modella-owned retailer Hobbycraft confirmed in April that it would be shutting at least nine UK stores under a mass restructure of the company, leading to 126 redundancies.

The arts and crafts retailer, which has over 100 UK stores and employed over 2,000 workers as of 2024, said that roles in its Bournemouth head office and Burton-on-Trent distribution centre were also at risk.

Hobbycraft noted that “a number of other stores” were still being reviewed at the time of reporting.

The retailer explained that the shop closures and restructure intended to help secure the future of at least 99 of its stores and 1,800 roles across the company.

The confirmation followed Sky News reporting that Hobbycraft was close to launching a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), which went on to be approved in May.

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