Supermarket giant with 1,400 locations to close city centre superstore TODAY
A SUPERMARKET is closing a popular city centre superstore in just a few hours.
Sainsbury's - which has 1,400 stores nationwide - is shutting the doors on its branch in Foss Bank, York, at 6pm today.
The grocery giant is leaving the location when its current lease expires - having first opened there more than 40 years ago in 1984.
The store will close permanently at 6pm.
It comes as its store in Stamford Hill, London, is set to close on February 1.
After the closure was initially announced in March last year, many locals took to Facebook to share their frustration at the news for many it came as a shock.
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One shopper said: “Gutted, I use it every morning,”
Another said: “Awful news for staff and customers, we’ve been shopping there since it opened!”
“Such as shame,” said someone else.
A Sainsbury's spokesperson said on Friday: "We would like to thank our loyal customers for their support throughout the store’s many years of serving the local community, and for all the kind messages we have received since this news was announced.
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"We understand this will be an unsettling time for everyone this affects and have been committed to doing everything we can to support them – this has included offering opportunities for our colleagues to redeploy to alternative roles within Sainsbury’s."
Foss Bank's Groceries Online department has been transferred to the Monks Cross branch on Jockey Lane.
Sainsbury's says it hopes to open new stores in York and is even asking customers to suggest possible sites.
In 2023 the retailer closed eight stores whilst confirming another 14 stores would close last spring.
Meanwhile, the retail giant confirmed Sainsbury's Bank, which has over 1.9 million customers, would enter a phased winding down.
What is happening to the high street?
Many retailers have been struggling to get by over the past few years.
The pandemic was a tough blow as many stores had to close during lockdown.
Since then 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 having no choice but to close stores to cut costs.
For the most part, supermarkets have braved the storm as they provide essential items like food and drink.
Asda opening 21 new stores last year and it builds plans to covert 470 stores it has acquired from Co-op.
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The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025."
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
"By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
Other retailers have not been so lucky, The Body Shop is currently going through administration and announced plans to close half of its 198 stores with seven already closing last week.
Boots revealed in 2024 it would be closing 300 stores over the next year as part of plans to evolve its brand.
WHSmith told The Sun it has no plans to open anymore more high street stores as it wants to focus on the travel side of its business.
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Major banks have also announced multiple branch closures, including Barclays pulling the shutters down on 14 sites in England, three in Wales and three in Scotland.
Even charity shops are struggling, with Oxfam confirming it would close eight of its UK stores in 2023.
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