A MAJOR supermarket with 329 stores is set to close a popular branch this month after welcoming customers for more than 50 years.
The site, located in Hall Green, Birmingham, announced it will close its doors for the final time on January 14.
Waitrose claimed that “despite the best efforts” they were ultimately unable to find a way to “make the shop commercially sustainable.”
Execs dubbed the move a sad “last resort” after failing to bring in higher profits.
Redundancy consultations were held with the store’s 123 members of staff.
Hall Green North Councillor, Saima Suleman, announced the sad news on Facebook earlier last year.
Fans of the branch were saddened by the news.
The post sparked an outcry among shoppers who claimed they “want to move now”.
One user wrote: “Hall Green isn’t what it was I think it needs to be more suitably placed.”
Another resident said: “This has made me want to move now.”
Others added on social media: “That’s disappointing! It’s one of my favourites since moving back to Birmingham in this area.”
“Sad – it was always nice to have it at my doorstep. The staff in there are really friendly and helpful. What a shame!”, said another.
James Allen, head of retail operations at the supermarket, said: “Our priority now is doing everything we can to support our Partners at Waitrose Hall Green and we will explore opportunities, wherever possible, for those partners who may wish to remain with the Partnership.
“Closing any of our shops is always a last resort and is in no way a reflection on their hard work and dedication.”
A spokesperson for Waitrose also added that it will aim to find places for staff within the company.
They said: “The 123 partners who work in the shop will now enter a period of consultation. If the redundancy proposals go ahead, every effort will be made to find those who wish to remain within the partnership new roles
“Customers will continue to be able to get all their groceries on waitrose.com, our nearby Waitrose Solihull shop, under three miles away, and other on-demand locations in the event the closure is confirmed.
“The John Lewis Partnership is committed to providing support to those partners who are at risk of redundancy.
“We’ll be exploring opportunities for partners within the partnership first, and our retraining fund will contribute up to £3,000 towards a recognised qualification or course for up to two years for any partner with two years’ service or more who is made redundant.
“They would also be given access to a three-month support programme with an outplacement specialist to help with CV writing and interview skills.”
In addition to statutory redundancy payments, staff who have worked with the business for more than 90 days would be entitled to Partnership redundancy pay, which equates to one week’s pay for every year of service.
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
