Morrisons to shut 132 ‘loss-making’ McColl’s stores

Morrisons is shutting more than 100 loss-making McColl’s convenience stores, putting as many as 1,300 jobs at risk just a few months after buying the corner shop retailer out of insolvency.

The British supermarket chain has identified 132 stores where “there is no realistic prospect of achieving a break-even position in the medium term” and will close those sites over the rest of this year. All affected employees will be offered alternative jobs at any nearby McColl’s or Morrisons stores, logistic bases or the food-making centers.

Morrisons rescued McColl’s out of administration, a form of UK insolvency process, in May after fighting off a rival bid from EG Group, whose owners also control Asda, the UK’s third-largest grocer. McColl’s has more than 16,000 staff employed across more than 1,000 stores.

McColl’s insolvency was the biggest collapse in the UK retail sector since the 2020 failure of Arcadia Group, Philip Green’s fashion empire that owned brands including Topshop and Dorothy Perkins.

The potential job losses were revealed as Morrisons, now owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, unveiled its plan to turn around the struggling convenience chain.

Morrisons said it will invest significantly in McColl’s over the next year to improve the chain’s store environment, its fresh food range and competitiveness. The grocer also plans to convert the majority of McColl’s sites into Morrisons Daily convenience stores, bringing the total to 1,000 in the next two years.

—Bloomberg