Major blow for North East as John Lewis confirms closure of Aberdeen store

The John Lewis Partnership has confirmed plans not to reopen eight branches from lockdown – including its department store in Aberdeen.

It states its four ‘At Home’ shops in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells, plus its four department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York were "financially challenged" even before the pandemic.

A spokesman for the company said: "We will enter into consultation with the 1465 affected partners about our proposals.

"Should we proceed, we will make every effort to find alternative roles in the partnership for as many partners as possible.

"At the Partnership’s full year results earlier this month, we said that we will reshape our business in response to how our customers increasingly want to shop in-store and online.

"This follows substantial research to identify and cater for new customer shopping habits in different parts of the country.

"As part of this, we can unfortunately no longer profitably sustain a large John Lewis store in some locations where we do not have enough customers, which is resulting in the proposed closures.

"The eight shops were financially challenged prior to the pandemic.

"Given the significant shift to online shopping in recent years - and our belief that this trend will not materially reverse - we do not think the performance of these eight stores can be substantially improved.

"We expect 60 per cent to 70 per cent of John Lewis sales to be made online in the future.

"Nearly 50 per cent of our customers now use a combination of both store and online when making a purchase.

They stressed: "Our department stores remain critical to our future success.

"They provide a sensory experience that online cannot, supported by the expertise of our partners.

"Having fewer bigger stores allows us to invest significantly to improve our remaining ones, showcasing our inspiring products with more space dedicated to experiences and services.

"They will be enticing and exciting places to shop, more reflective of the tastes and interests of local customers.

"We will also be testing new formats of smaller, local neighbourhood shops offering the best of John Lewis.

"In areas where we propose not to reopen stores, we will look at the right combination of options for that location to ensure we remain convenient for our customers, so they can continue to access John Lewis products and services.

"If redundancies are confirmed in the eight shops, every effort will be made to find affected partners new roles for those who wish to remain within the partnership.

"When we closed eight John Lewis stores last year, around a third of affected partners were found permanent roles in the partnership."

The Aberdeen branch first opened its doors back in 1989 having taken on the distinctive former Norco building.

Customers now face a 240-mile round trip to the nearest branch in Edinburgh, with the closest Waitrose located in Stirling.

Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: "Today's announcement is incredibly sad news for our affected Partners, for our customers and for the communities we’ve served over many years.

“The high street is going through its biggest change for a generation and we are changing with it. Customers will still be able to get the trusted service that we are known for - however and wherever they want to shop."