Tesco to close remaining Homeplus stores

Tesco has called time on its non-food only stores in the UK by closing the last six Homeplus shops with the loss of 450 jobs.

The closures come on top of 43 that Tesco announced in January, which led to the loss of roughly 2,000 jobs.

Their closure represents the latest stage of the attempt to turnaround Tesco by chief executive Dave Lewis.

Tesco began trialling non-food stores in the UK in 2005 under Sir Terry Leahy and built up a collection of 12 across the country as Britain’s biggest retailer expanded rapidly.

However, the stores have struggled to make money and the experiment has now been brought to an abrupt end.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We’ve taken the difficult decision to close our remaining six Homeplus stores.

“Our priority is now to explain what this announcement means for our colleagues and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with Tesco."

Tesco closed six other Homeplus stores as part of the 43 announced in January. Those stores did not even make a profit before rent was taken into account and it is understood that the last six have also toiled.

The final six Homeplus stores that will close are based in Bracknell, Bristol, Bromborough, Denton, Nottingham, and Preston.

Last month Tesco reported an annual pre-tax loss of £6.4bn, one of the biggest losses in British corporate history.

This was on the back of a £4.7bn writedown on the value of its property, including the stores that have closed and 49 sites around the country where Tesco will no longer build supermarkets.

Source : Graham Ruddick - The Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/tsco/11600629/Tesco-ends-non-food-dream-by-closing-Homeplus-shops.html