JOHN Lewis plans to permanently shut eight more shops with 1,465 jobs at risk.
It comes after the retailer posted a £517million loss for last year due to the coronavirus crisis.
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The eight shops set to close are located in cities and towns including Ashford, Peterborough and York – you can check out the full list below.
John Lewis’ remaining 34 shops in England will then reopen from April 12, subject to government guidance.
While its Glasgow store will open on April 26 and the Edinburgh one on May 14.
The announcement came eight months after John Lewis closed another eight stores, in a move which cut around 1,300 jobs.
Which John Lewis will not reopen after lockdown?
JOHN Lewis has announced eight more shops will permanently close, these are located in:
At Home stores:
- Ashford
- Basingstoke
- Chester
- Tunbridge Wells
Department stores:
- Aberdeen
- Peterborough
- Sheffield
- York
John Lewis Partnership said on Wednesday that it will also transfer the operations of its Waitrose distribution centre in Leyland, Lancashire, to XPO Logistics.
It said 436 Waitrose staff at the site will be transferred to XPO.
John Lewis 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.
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It marks the latest blow to the Covid-battered high street, after industry experts warned last year that the pandemic had been the the “worst time ever for retail” .
Retail leaders estimate that one in five high street stores plan to close permanently, and shops have axed tens of thousands of jobs during the crisis in the struggle for survival.
A number of high street giants have also collapsed during the pandemic, including Debenhams, which officially entered administration in April last year.
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