Staff at Penrith’s Sainsbury’s store are facing an uncertain future after the retail giant announced it is to cut more than 3,000 jobs across the country.
The news was delivered just hours before tighter coronavirus restrictions came into force on Thursday when the supermarket revealed a £137m loss it blamed on closures and market changes.
Reports suggest that in-store delicatessens, fresh fish and meat counters will close in a bid to reduce food waste.
Sainsbury’s, which bought the Argos chain in 2016, also said in its statement that the 120 standalone Argos stores which had not reopened since they were closed for the first lockdown in March would now shut permanently.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said: “We will work really hard to find alternative roles for as many of these colleagues as possible and expect to be able to offer alternative roles for the majority of impacted colleagues.”
He said the aim was to make Argos a simpler, more efficient and more profitable business.
