Sainsbury to cut 3, 500 jobs, Argos to close 420 stores, and John Lewis to shed 1500 jobs

Sainsbury has announced 3, 500 job losses mainly from the Argos chain it bought in 2016 and close 420 Argos stores by March 2024,  but open new 150 outlets in Sainsbury’s stores.

Job losses are also in the supermarkets with the closure of its delicatessens and fresh fish and meat counters.

Sainsbury’s said that the120 standalone Argos stores that had not reopened since they were closed in March would now shut permanently.

Employee-owned John Lewis partnership is cutting a further 1, 500 jobs through a shake-up of its head office functions to save cash as the coronavirus crisis continues to take a toll on sales.  This is in addition to shedding 1390 roles in the wake of pandemic disruption this year which also saw 8 underperforming John Lewis department stores and four Waitrose supermarket suites closed down. The latest wave of cuts would strip out layers of back-office functions and remove duplication across its brands to leave a partnership-focused operation.

Despite incurring a half-year loss of £635m, the business is injecting  £1bn to bolster store and online services part aided by its decision not to pay a partnership bonus next year for the first time since 1953.