Morrisons to close 17 stores and 52 cafes with 365 jobs at risk

Morrisons has unveiled a number of changes and adjustments to its stores and operations as it enters the second year of its renewal programme, in a bid to boost growth, optimise operations and mitigate recent cost rises.

It comes after a wide-ranging review of the retailer identified a number of areas where its operations costs were significantly out of line with usage, volumes or the value that shoppers placed on them.

The supermarket has proposed a series of changes over the next few months, including the axing of 52 cafés, all of its 18 Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies.

The announcement follows Morrisons’ recent plans to relaunch its Market Street proposition as part of a wider overhaul of the supermarket’s trading team, unveiled last week.

Although the majority of staff members impacted by the changes are expected to be deployed to suitable roles elsewhere within Morrisons, there will be a total of roughly 365 colleagues risking redundancy.

CEO Rami Baitiéh, said: “The changes we are announcing today are a necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth.

“Morrisons Cafés are rightly famous for their great quality well-priced food, their place in the local community and their appealing mix of traditional favourites alongside exciting new dishes.

“In most locations the Morrisons Café has a bright future, but a minority have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.”

Baitiéh explained while Market Street was a “beacon of differentiation” for the supermarket which it remained “committed” to, it was making some “necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic” as it modernised.

The grocery boss said: “In some stores where we are closing counters or cafés, we plan to work with third parties to provide a relevant specialist offer.

“Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues.

“We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”

Morrisons has been pushing ahead with its turnaround efforts in recent times, with the company confirming that it had slashed its debt burden by almost 40% in November.

In January, the supermarket reported its strongest quarter since the start of 2021, with Baitiéh noting it had made “positive progressive”.

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