Sainsbury’s has announced plans to close its cafe in the Nantwich store as well as many others as part of a drive to save £1 billion by 2028.
The supermarket giant, which has had a store off Middlewich Road in Nantwich for 30 years, is proposing to shut 61 cafes in the UK amid a major overhaul that will see 3,000 jobs cut.
It comes three years after the company closed 200 of its cafes, citing a decrease in demand from shoppers.
Other nearby stores set to lose their cafes include Whitchurch, Leek and Cannock.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said the business was facing a challenging environment and had to make “difficult choices”.
The company said the rise in employer’s NI contributions will cost it £140 million from April.
The industry trade body, the British Retail Consortium, says higher costs for retailers will impact investment, jobs and lead to higher prices.
Mr Roberts added: “We are facing a particularly challenging cost environment which means we have had to make tough choices about where we can afford to invest and where we need to do things differently to make our business more efficient and effective.
“The decisions we are announcing today are essential to ensure we continue to drive forward our momentum but have also meant some difficult choices impacting our dedicated colleagues in a number of parts of our business.”
He said the company would do everything it could to support people who were affected by the announcement.
Its gone noticably downhill recently. Car park dirty, store dirty staff dont care.
Sainsbury’s is looking at achieving over £1 billion in underlying operating profit come the end of next financial year. I’m sure the new Government policy will hurt some business, but Sainsbury’s is not one of them. Simon Roberts could swallow that £140 million no problem at all. Jobs wouldn’t have to be lost. Prices wouldn’t have to go up. Of course, it’s all about pleasing the shareholders.
Sadly this part of the consequences of Government Policy. A 140 million pound increase in employers national insurance is not insignificant for Sainsbury’s alone, together with changes in employment law costing nationally 5-6 billion across the whole country.
It is obvious inflation will increase, unemployment rates will rise, employers being reluctant to recruit, The benefits bill will go up. It is a pity that the public sector fail largely to deliver value for money. Not in every case, perhaps Cheshire Council and Nantwich Town Council could learn a lot from Sainsbury’s or a company like Amazon.