CHOCOLATE shop Thorntons is shutting all of its stores because of the impact of coronavirus.
The retailer said it has been hit hard by the pandemic and has had to close during many of the busiest times of the shopping year.
Thorntons is closing stores[/caption]
All 61 Thorntons stores it owns will close putting 603 jobs at risk.
Thorntons has around 100 franchise stores that are not affected by the closures.
These operate under the Thorntons name but are run independently.
Thorntons stores have been shut because of lockdowns over the past year including during crucial shopping periods like Christmas and Easter.
What are my redundancy rights?
BEFORE making you unemployed, your employer should still carry out a fair redundancy process.
You are entitled to be consulted on the redundancy lay-off first and to receive a statutory redundancy payment, as long as you’ve been working somewhere for at least two years.
How much you’re entitled to depends on your age and length of service, although this is capped at 20 years. You’ll get:
- Half a week’s pay for each full year you were under 22,
- One week’s pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41,
- One and half week’s pay for each full year you were 41 or older.
Sadly, you won’t be entitled to a payout if you’ve been working for your employer for fewer than two years.
There should be a period of collective consultation as well as time for individual ones if your employer wants to make 20 or more employees redundant within 90 days or each other.
You are also entitled to appeal the decision by claiming unfair dismissal within three months of being let go.
Sales have surged online and the choc shop will continue to sell its sweet treats on its website thorntons.co.uk.
Thorntons will also continue to sell chocs through other shops where they are stocked such as supermarkets.
The company, which was founded in Sheffield in 1911, was bought by Italian food giant Ferrero in 2015 for £112 million.
Adam Goddard, retail director at Thorntons, said: “Changing dynamics of the high street, shifting customer behaviour to online, the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the numerous lockdown restrictions over the last year – especially during our key trading periods at Easter and Christmas – has meant we have been trading in the most challenging circumstances.
“Unfortunately, like many others, the obstacles we have faced and will continue to face on the high street are too severe and despite our best efforts we have taken the difficult decision to permanently close our retail store estate.
“We will now go into full consultation with our colleagues.”
Which Thorntons stores are closing?
THORNTONS is closing 61 of its high street stores – here's the full list of locations it has across the country:
- Banbury
- Belfast
- Birmingham
- Bluewater
- Braintree
- Brighton
- Burton on Trent
- Camberley
- Cardiff St Davids
- Castleford Café
- Chelmsford
- Cheltenham
- Cheshire Oaks Café
- Chester Eastgate
- Coventry
- Cribbs Causeway
- Crystal Peaks
- Dalton Park
- Darlington
- Derby Derbion
- Doncaster Café
- Douglas IOM
- Dunfermline
- Gateshead
- Glasgow Buchanan
- Gretna Green
- High Wycombe
- Highcross Leicester
- Huddersfield
- Hull
- Inverness
- Keighley
- Lancaster
- Leeds White Rose
- Lincoln
- Liverpool One
- Livingston Café
- Loughborough
- Manchester Arndale
- Mansfield
- Merry Hill
- Newcastle-High Friars
- Newtownards
- Nottingham Victoria
- Oldham
- Preston Fishergate
- Reading Broad Street
- Sheffield Fargate
- Sheffield Meadowhall Lower
- Sheffield Meadowhall Upper
- Shrewsbury
- Silverburn Glasgow
- St Enochs
- Stirling
- Stockport
- Swindon Gt Western
- Trafford Park
- Uxbridge
- Walsall
- York Café
Non-essential shops are expected to open again on April 12 under plans for the country to leave lockdown.
Online shopping has surged during the pandemic.
Shoppers swamped websites on boxing day, spending nearly £2billion online when they were unable to visit shops in person because of the coronavirus crisis.
Thorntons is the latest retailer forced to cut jobs and close stores because of the pandemic.
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It’s estimated that over 43,000 retail jobs have been axed since the start of coronavirus lockdown as high street struggles to survive.
Topshop and Debenhams are among the well-known names to go into administration.
