Marks & Spencer to close distribution warehouse – putting 450 jobs at risk
MARKS & Spencer is to close its Hardwick distribution centre in north-west England putting 450 jobs at risk.
The British retailer said the site would cease operations in September, with work transferring to other centres, including one in Bradford that it is automating.
Its contractors XPO Logistics and DHL have started consultations with their Hardwick staff, it said.
More than 450 contractors supply clothing and home products to the warehouse that is then distributed to its stores in the north west and Scotland.
M&S also said it had appointed DHL, owned by Deutsche Post AG, to operate its new South East distribution centre at Welham Green.
The centre, which was announced in January, will open in 2019, M&S said, adding that DHL will recruit around 500 people to work at the site.
But DHL is the contracting company recently employed by KFC who is to blame for the chicken shortage two months ago.
The delivery blunders meant that more than 900 KFC stores were forced to close because they had nothing to sell.
The decision brings the total job losses at M&S this year to more than 1,300.
In January, M&S said it was closing 14 stores, affecting nearly 500 jobs. The retailer also ditched its Neasden distribution site near London, putting a further 380 jobs at risk.
Gordon Mowat, logistics director at M&S, said: "Closing Hardwick will help to remove some complexity from our network and speed up our supply chain.
"However, it was not a decision we took lightly and it is not in any way a reflection on the hard work and dedication provided by the teams on site."
M&S is seeking to save costs as part of a five-year turnaround plan spearheaded by chief executive Steve Rowe and chairman Archie Norman, who joined the retailer in September last year.
Several large retailers have been shedding staff as they try to save costs in an increasingly tough trading environment, with both Sainsbury's and Tesco axing thousands of middle-managers earlier this year.
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