Drastic Dave reveals 43 Tesco store closures
TESCO chief executive Dave Lewis yesterday lived up to his nickname “drastic Dave” as the company named the 43 stores it would be closing in a bid to revive its flagging fortunes.
The retailer said it would shut 30 convenience stores – including 18 Express outlets and 12 inner-city Metro shops – along with seven superstores and six non-food Homeplus ventures. The closures are spread across the UK.
The Express and Homeplus stores will close on 15 March with the Tesco Metros and Superstores on the list closing on 4 April.
Lewis said: “[Earlier this month], I announced that our performance as a business has fallen significantly short of where we would want it to be and that to protect the future of the business in the UK we would close 43 unprofitable stores.
“The decision to close the stores has been exceptionally difficult to take. I recognise it will affect many hardworking colleagues, our customers and local communities.
“Our priority is to explain what this announcement means for our colleagues and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with Tesco. We will continue to serve our customers through other local stores and our dotcom service.”
The move follows two successive years of falling sales and profits, and a shock accounting scandal, which saw the chain overstate its profits by some £263m.
In the Greater London area, Tesco is closing its Express stores in Belvedere and South Tottenham. It will also be closing its Homeplus in Staines.
Other members of the “big four” supermarkets, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda, are shelving expansion plans or even closing stores. In November, Sainsbury’s said it was scrapping plans for new stores, while Morrisons plans to close 10 loss-making stores this year.
Shares in Tesco fell 1.13 per cent, closing at 227.65p.