John Lewis Closes Eight Stores In Order To Safeguard The Future Of The Business

John Lewis Closes Eight Stores In Order To Safeguard The Future Of The Business

John Lewis shutters eight stores as part of its strategic review (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) ... [+] (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)



AFP via Getty Images



The John Lewis Partnership has announced that eight of its stores will remain permanently closed in order to, "secure the business's long-term future and respond to customers' shopping needs". It said that the stores which will not reopen were already "financially challenged" before the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The news means that 1,300 jobs will go.



The stores affected include two of the smallest in the estate - travel hub shops at Heathrow and St Pancras, four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth and two full size department stores in Birmingham and Watford. The Birmingham store only opened in 2015 to much fanfare as part of the Grand Central development.



The news of the permanent closure of the Birmingham store, so soon after the news that Debenhams is also to close there was greeted by shoppers with sadness and disappointment, one writing, "Grand Central is going to be a ghost town if this carries on".



The group estimated that between 60% and