CLOSING TIME
Argos to close another branch within days and shoppers say ‘it makes no sense’
The retailer has said it is closing 100 stores in 12 months
A HUGE high street retailer has announced plans to close a store next week as part of a plan to shut 100 shops.
Argos is closing its standalone store at the Roaring Meg retail park in Stevenage next week.
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Earlier this year the retailer announced plans to close 100 stores within 12 months.
Sainsbury’s who own Argos, has said the move is part of plans to expand Argos’ presence in supermarkets.
It has already shut more than 45 branches in the last 12 months and opened up over 25 branches inside Sainsbury's stores.
Shoppers took to Facebook to share their frustrations at hearing the news with many pointing out they thought the timing was poor.
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One user said: "It doesn’t make good business sense. In the middle of Black Friday week and a month before Christmas? Why have they not left it till January?”
“This will make it harder for customers to get last-minute presents as they won’t hold it in stock,” the added.
Another said: “This is not good news.”
“It’s extremely busy in that area of town, you would think a presence there would be beneficial to Argos,” claimed a third.
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A fourth user argued: “Trouble is we’re all guilty of turning to eBay, Amazon and any other online shop. Argos was just handy for same-day collections.”
An Argos spokesperson said: “To make shopping more convenient for customers and to enable us to invest where it matters most, we are relocating many of our standalone Argos stores to Sainsbury’s – this includes our Stevenage Argos store.”
“Next week a brand-new Argos will open inside Sainsbury’s Stevenage, enabling customers to purchase thousands of technology, home and toy products from Argos while picking up their groceries.”
“We understand this will be an unsettling time for those affected and we are supporting them in any we can, including offering colleagues the opportunity to redeploy to other roles within Sainsbury’s and Argos.”
Shoppers can expect to see transfers from the Argos store moved to the new counter being set up in Sainsbury's Poplars by November 22.
By March 2024, Sainsbury's expects to have 160 standalone stores and between 430 and 460 Argos counters inside Sainsbury's supermarkets.
Many high street retailers have been struggling to get buy over the past few years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Energy costs have risen and more shoppers than ever are choosing to order online rather than head into stores.
This has left some retailers grappling with budgets and have no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
Boots revealed it would be closing 300 stores over the next year as part of plans to evolve its brand.
B&M has closed nine of its stores since February this year.
Homebase closed a store last week leaving it with just 93 stores remaining since it was taken over by Hilco Capital in 2018.
Poundstretcher has closed five stores this year with another due to close by next year.
Even Tesco announced it will be closing a store this week.
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