Morrisons closing final of 17 stores today in major blow for shoppers
The supermarket closed 16 of its Morrisons Daily convenience stores last month and now its branch in Haxby is shutting today
Morrisons is set to close the final of 17 stores today as part of its major restructure plans. The supermarket closed 16 of its Morrisons Daily convenience stores last month and now its branch in Haxby is shutting today.
It isn't just Morrisons Daily stores that have been impacted. The supermarket also announced plans to shut 52 of its in-store cafés, all 18 of its market kitchens, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies.
Morrisons said a "wide-ranging review" found these services were not cost-effective. At the time, the supermarket said most employees affected by these changes will be offered alternative roles elsewhere in the company - however, 365 people were still put at risk of redundancy.
The shake-up is also partly to "help mitigate recent significant cost increases" including an increase in employers' National Insurance and the minimum wage.
Rami Baitiéh, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said at the time of the announcement: '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.
'Market Street is a beacon of differentiation for Morrisons and we remain committed to it. But as we modernise we are making some necessary changes to the areas of the model which are simply uneconomic.
'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.'
It comes after Morrisons axed two of its loyalty scheme offers - leaving shoppers furious. The supermarket previously ran Fish Fridays and Steak Saturdays promotions which gave More Card customers 20% off fish and steak from its Market Street counters.
Full list of affected Morrisons Daily stores
Gorleston Lowestoft Road - closed April 16
Peebles 3-5 Old Town - closed April 16
Shenfield 214 Hutton Road - closed April 16
Poole Waterloo Estate - closed April 16
Tonbridge Higham Lane Est - closed April 16
Romsey The Cornmarket - closed April 16
Stewarton Lainshaw Street - closed April 16
Selsdon Featherbed Lane - closed April 16
Haxby Village - closing May 14
Great Barr Queslett Road - closed April 16
Whickham Oakfield Road - closed April 16
Worle - closed April 16
Goring-By-Sea Strand Parade - closed April 16
Woking Westfield Road - closed April 16
Wokingham 40 Peach Street - closed April 16
Exeter 51 Sidwell Street - closed April 16
Bath Moorland Road - closed April 16
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