John Lewis is to close four of its department stores and four of its At Home stores as it adapts to a lack of footfall and increased online shopping.
The employee-owned chain could see the loss of 1,465 jobs.
The department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York will not re-open while the At Home stores in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells will remain closed.
‘Given the significant shift to online shopping in recent years – and our belief that this trend will not materially reverse – we do not think the performance of these eight stores can be substantially improved. We expect 60% to 70% of John Lewis sales to be made online in the future. Nearly 50% of our customers now use a combination of both store and online when making a purchase,’ it says.
The closures is the second round of downsizing, after closing eight department stores eight months ago.
The chain says it remaining 36 branches will begin re-opening on 12 April, with Glasgow opening on 26 April and Edinburgh on 14 May.
