Jarrolds boss assures staff that Cromer store is not closing

Staff at a long-established department store outlet have been assured that another shop closure is not being planned.Jarrolds is closing the book department of its four-floor store in Norwich, citing the struggle to compete with national and online rivals.Jarrolds' Cromer store primarily sells books, however Tim Shattock, the firm's managing director for trading, insisted the coastal shop was "not at risk".It follows the closure of its shop in Wymondham last September - and a move to cut the hours of around 70 staff earlier this year.
Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk, Mr Shattock said: "I think it comes down to how you work with scale. "We obviously have a large store with large operating costs in Norwich and we also have a multi-department offer."If you're dedicated to books and you're operating either as a large bookseller - as a Waterstones where you've got scale to combat some of the price and availability - or if that's actually the main area of focus, like some of the excellent independent book shops."That's where Cromer exists for us. It leads with books and has a very good book business. It has a very good customer base, with not huge amounts of competition, like Norwich."
'Difficult decision'
The book department of the Norwich store is set to close at the end of August after a sale of existing stock.Mr Shattock did not confirm if any staff would be made redundant but said: "With any business change we have to prioritise any colleagues affected and I know the team at Jarrolds are working with them to manage that."Jarrolds appears to be in a healthy position financially, according to its most recent annual accounts to the end of January 2024.Turnover dipped very slightly to £31.8m but a £6m profit represented a 19.1% gross profit margin. The average number of employees also fell very slightly to 398 from 419 the previous year.Despite the firm's long history as a publisher and a book seller, Mr Shattock admitted the department had faced challenges since the rise of online retailers at the turn of the millennium."We're very proud of our history as a bookseller in Norwich and books as a whole in the company, we're also very thankful to our loyal customers who have been on the journey with us," he said."So I understand that this decision is a difficult one and tricky for some customers to understand."In the department store we operate in a number of different categories and whilst we're seeing some really good growth in some and some really strong demand, this [books] has been a challenging market for us for a number of years."We've managed to nurture the department over the last two decades and managed that decline, it's got to the point where we need to think about the future and make a difficult decision on our portfolio."Mr Shattock said growth could be found in innovative areas, such as the food hall and beauty retreat rooms."We're seeing that innovation in other categories that we're finding very difficult to replicate in books," he said.
Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Telegraph

30 minutes ago

• Telegraph

Britain's defeatist attitude ‘has led to reliance on foreign labour'

A 'defeatist' attitude to getting young people into work has left Britain over-reliant on foreign labour, the Business Secretary has said. Jonathan Reynolds hits out at the 'casual' approach taken to packing key sectors such as healthcare, construction and manufacturing with imported workers. In an interview with The Telegraph, he says the UK is 'vulnerable' to global events because 'tremendous skills gaps' have opened up in the domestic workforce. His intervention comes as Labour prepares to publish plans on Monday on how to boost the number of young Britons taking up jobs in areas like defence. Mr Reynolds will publish a 10-year blueprint to train up thousands more school leavers and 'end the over-reliance on foreign labour' in the economy. It comes after new analysis from Oxford University's Migration Observatory showed the proportion of migrant employees in the UK has risen from 12 per cent a decade ago to just under one in five now. At the same time, the number of young Britons who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) has risen sharply to one in seven. The Business Secretary said that the Neet statistic was 'appalling' and that people too often felt that skilled jobs had 'not been available to them and their children'. 'If on key areas the argument is 'we just have to import talent in that sector, we can't train people, we haven't got the money, we haven't got the capacity', I think that's too defeatist and we've got to address that,' he said. 'We cannot have a vibrant, diverse economy, we cannot have a very strong manufacturing base, unless we've got the skills for it and that's why we can't be casual about just importing that.' Monday's industrial strategy announcement will include plans to open a new generation of technical colleges and fund 'cutting-edge' courses in defence and engineering. It will also set out how the Government plans to be more interventionist, 'rather than leaving industry to fend for itself and let the markets decide'. Mr Reynolds said it will help 'ensure British workers can secure good, well-paid jobs in the industries of tomorrow'. He acknowledged that the historically high level of net migration over recent years 'doesn't have public consent' and has created a 'lot of anger'. It was important to remain 'very pro talent coming to the UK' but also ensure migration was 'not the only way we're meeting those skills needs', he added. 'If you think about the tremendous gaps we've got in the skills pipeline in construction, in engineering, defence, that's the reason why the wider sectors that we've picked for the strategy have these packages in there. 'We are vulnerable when the whole world wants these things. I feel previous governments have assumed it doesn't matter if we make anything in the UK – I think that's wrong.' Mr Reynolds said that 'the country has failed' the almost one million 16 to 24-year-olds who are currently classed as Neet. There is 'not just an economic argument' but 'a moral one as well', he said, adding that 'it's a tragedy' if people aren't getting the right opportunities. He backed the proposed £5 billion cuts to benefits, over which No 10 is facing a big Labour rebellion, arguing that 'we've got to be addressing these issues'. 'No young person, unless they obviously have a significant disability or are genuinely not in a position to work, should be choosing or [be] in a position where they're not going into employment or education or training,' he said. 'I go around, it doesn't matter whether it's creative industries, advanced manufacturing, services, energy, and think I'd love my kids to work in any of these sectors. 'I think the number of young people who are Neet is appalling. I don't know how we've allowed that to happen.' Mr Reynolds said the industrial strategy should be judged on whether it helps school leavers 'understand that there are major careers, good jobs for British people'. 'The skills are about new careers for thousands of British people. Business needs that, I think the country needs that,' he said. 'Part of the conversation this week has been about the number of people on disability benefits in the UK, some of whom are in work, I do recognise that. 'But we've we've got to be addressing these issues for business, and we've got to be addressing them for people's lives themselves.' He also insisted that, whilst defending UK industry, the strategy will not represent 'nostalgia for the past' or a 'protectionist and 1970s orientated' approach. The Business Secretary, who has recently struck landmark trade deals with the US and India, said he would take a more cautious approach with China. He said that he has repeatedly brought up the dumping of steel on the global market at below production value in 'candid' discussions with Beijing. 'Whatever people think of the US administration, they have a point on the reciprocity of trade, if one part of the world is producing a lot of what the world makes and doesn't consume itself a reflective share of that,' he said. 'These big global imbalances, this isn't really how the global economy is supposed to function. 'So an obvious thing for us would be, is a country like China willing to let our brilliant service industries operate freely as we allow some countries to operate in the UK? That's a question for China.'

BBC News

40 minutes ago

• BBC News

Cumbria analogue phase-out 'would be curtains for me' in a crisis

People in rural parts of Cumbria have said they will be left unable to call for help in an emergency when analogue phones are phased phones still work in a power cut via an electric current from the telephone Bondi, from Alston Moor, said it would be "curtains" for her if she had no analogue phone and she was unable to drive in a companies such as BT say they are making the change because the old copper network is increasingly prone to faults and digital phones are more reliable. A BT spokesperson encouraged customers to get in touch to discuss a "solution". The industry is aiming to switch almost all customers to digital landlines, which use the internet, by the end of January Bondi, who lives a mile from the nearest property, has an analogue phone for said power cuts could last up to four days in her area and added local mobile phone coverage usually failed when outages what she would do without the analogue phone in a crisis, she said, "Who knows?""If the emergency meant that I wasn't able to drive, that really would be curtains for me," she said. 'Not fit for purpose' The Labour MP for Penrith and Solway Markus Campbell-Savours has called for a delay to the said: "I want to know, is there some way we can give those people who are vulnerable a piece of kit where they can raise alarm?" Phone companies have offered battery packs to vulnerable customers to use as a temporary power source, but they last for hours rather than days.A spokesperson for BT said the move to digital landlines was "necessary" because the analogue network had become "increasingly prone to faults and is no longer fit for purpose".They added: "We encourage customers who have any concerns to get in touch. There is a solution for everyone." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.

BBC News

an hour ago

• BBC News

Bristol in Pictures: It's a new dawn, it's a new day

Temperatures have risen in time for the summer solstice this people have been out soaking up the rays and we have had some gorgeous sunny scenes to wake up to. Early start: Paddleboarders took to the water just after 04:00 BST on Saturday to mark the solstice with a mass dawn paddle organised by watersports company SUP. Making a splash: It was only last Sunday that thousands of people lined the harbourside to watch teams enter their homemade creations in the first ever Bristol Birdman competition. Winners: The specialist debt team from Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire has been named the Debt Team of the Year by the Institute of Money Advisers. It is the third year in the row the Yate-based team, made up of Yvonne Parks, Eliza Hirst, Linda Mullholland and Angus Macdonald, has either been shortlisted or won an award. Ahoy: This group of sailors made the most of the weather and took to Bristol harbour in their boats. A young endangered Philippine spotted deer has been photographed at Bristol Zoo Project. Maliit is an extremely rare and tiny deer fawn. There are thought to be fewer than 700 Philippine spotted deer left in the wild. It has been a scorcher of a week, and as we approached the longest day of the year one of our Weather Watchers sent in this beautiful picture of a late sunset over homes in Weston-super-Mare. University of Bristol students celebrated taking part in a programme of specialist start-up training at a special event on Wednesday evening. Participants in the scheme have the opportunity to pitch their business idea, with the winners granted £8,000 of funding.