littlewoods axes 3,200 jobs closes stores...

[kronas]

littlewoods is to make 3,200 employees redundant and close 126 high street Index chain stores whilst selling the remaining 33 Index propertys.

Index has made a loss every of its 20 year existence.

GUS will buy 33 of the Index stores which will be turned in to argos outlets.

source: BBC news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4453681.stm

another sad day for the retail sector

[Seti]

I bet they won't get any government help to get new jobs or a week extra pay either Sad.


Sian

[bob_builder]

A sad sign of the times, I am afraid!

[Bifta]

A lot of towns and cities have Index and Argos in the same shopping centre, it's highly unlikely they'll end up with two within spitting distance. Index was always fairly crap, less stock and less selection that Argos

I'm amazed it lasted this long. 20 years of unprofitablility is an astounding record that would never have been allowed to continue had the company been in public ownership! I think the staff of Index have actually been lucky to hold onto their jobs until now, as the chain's succession of owners have apparently been running the business with other motives than pure return-on-investment.

[bob_builder]

Norwich is apparently one of the 33 stores to be sold to Argos:
http://business.edp24.co.uk/story.as...A01%3A58%3A427

No update on the other 32 as of yet.
__________________

Originally Posted by Bifta

A lot of towns and cities have Index and Argos in the same shopping centre, it's highly unlikely they'll end up with two within spitting distance. Index was always fairly crap, less stock and less selection that Argos

As Argos already have a store in Castle Mall in Norwich it is probably safe to say that other large cities might also have their Index change to Argos even if they already have an Argos in town.

[bob_builder]

Take from http://www.channel4.com/news/news_st...toryId=1944606

Originally Posted by Channel4

The stores to be sold and rebranded are at Bangor in Northern Ireland, Barking, Belfast (Castlecourt), Belfast (Connswater), Birmingham, Bromley, Bury, Clydebank, Dumfries, Dundee (Wellgate), Guildford, Huddersfield, Hull, Liverpool (Bold St), Londonderry, Maidstone, Manchester (Hulme), Manchester (The Fort), Newcastle, Newry, Northampton, Norwich, Oldham, Plymouth, Rotherham, Scarborough, Stockport, Telford, Wakefield, Walthamstow, Widnes, Worthing, York.

Out of the 126 stores to be shut, the 33 stand-alone sites are at Altrincham, Ballymena, Basildon, Belfast (Ann St), Basingstoke, Boscombe, Cardiff, Bury St Edmunds, Craigavon, East Kilbride, Edgware, Ellesmere Port, Falkirk, Farnborough, Glenrothes, Grimsby, Hartlepool, Horsham, Ilford, Kilmarnock, Merry Hill, Nuneaton, Nottingham, Redhill, Romford, Salisbury, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Thurrock, Walsall, Wigan, Witham.

[Nemesis]

I used to work for them ..... long time comin IMO .... they took on Argos and lost ....

[Stuart]

thanks for that bob..

It seems that of the two stores in my local area (there were three, but Littlewoods in Lewisham closed, apparently for refurbishment and hasn't re-opened), Bromley will be re-branded as an Argos shop (although not sure why they are bothering - it's tiny) and the one in Croydon is just an in-store concession, so will go back to littlewoods.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by scastle

... and the one in Croydon is just an in-store concession, so will go back to littlewoods.

They did that a lot .... they usde to own a lot more real estate, and started to close them, and sell of, taking the index shop into the existing Littlewoods shops. Reduced overheads and they carried a lot less stock.

[etccarmageddon]

I remember ringing the Altrincham branch just after I'd moved into my first house and asking if they deliver on Saturdays as I didnt want to make a trip all the way to Altrincham to place an order for a bed if they only deliver on week days. "yes sir we deliver on Saturdays".... drove in to Alty in the peeing rain walked in, placed order and tried to arrange delivery for a saturday and the response was "we only deliver on week days"!!!!

I suppose I should have asked to see the manager! especially as I explained I had phoned and been told they deliver at weekends and the lady serving didnt appear to give a toss that someone had got it wrong.

[Halcyon]

The stores were always very old fashioned and many were located in Littlewoods stores which didnt really attract young people.