Morrisons has announced plans to close two of its convenience stores in Scotland, in addition to 13 Scottish cafés.
Morrisons Daily outlets in Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, and in Stewarton, East Ayrshire, are set to close their doors over the coming months.
The move is part of an “optimisation strategy”, whereby the group is set to close 52 cafes, all 18 Market Kitchens, 17 c-stores, florists, meat and fish counters and four pharmacies across the UK. Morrisons claimed that around 365 colleagues were at risk of redundancy.
The retailer said that a “wide-ranging review” identified a number of areas where the costs of operations were significantly out of line with usage, volumes or the value that customers placed on them.
Rami Baitiéh, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said: “The changes we are announcing 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.
He added: “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.”
Although he claimed that the changes were “relatively small” in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, Baitiéh stated that the company did not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they would cause to colleagues. “We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes,” he said.
Scottish Morrisons Daily stores set to close:
- 3-5 Old Town, Peebles, Scottish Borders
- Lainshaw Street, Stewarton, East Ayrshire
Scottish Morrisons cafés set to close:
- Falside Rd, Paisley, Renfrewshire
- North Deeside Rd, Banchory, Aberdeenshire
- Bathgate, West Lothian
- John St, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire
- Glasgow Rd, Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire
- Lindsayfield, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire
- Stewartfield, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire
- Newlands, Glasgow
- Largs Irvine Rd, Largs, North Ayrshire
- Academy St, Troon, South Ayrshire
- Kirk Rd, Wishaw North Lanarkshire
- Erskine Bridgewater SC, Renfrewshire
- Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute
