Jobs are at risk after Sainsbury’s announced it will close one of their stores in Gloucester city centre.
The supermarket giant said it will be closing its Sainsbury’s Local store on Northgate Street, a store popular with shoppers.
Staff were told last week but a spokesman said it is doing everything it can to find new roles for those staff working there.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said, “We have updated colleagues on the difficult decision to close our Gloucester store and we are doing everything we can to find alternative roles within Sainsbury’s for those affected.
“Customers can continue to shop with us at a number of nearby stores. For example, our Gloucester Quays store is a short drive away.”
In 2019, Sainsbury’s announced it would close up to 15 supermarkets over the next two years while opening 10 new ones over the next five years.
Gloucester City Councillor Dawn Melville (C, Westgate) and cabinet member for economic recovery and growth, said the supermarket could have made a profit if it had decided to stay at that location.
She said: “It’s a very foolhardy decision, because if they had waited for the city centre and King’s Square regeneration, they would reap the benefits of that.
“If they’d hung on, their business would be so much more viable.
“It’s really sad, because the store is quite iconic in that area, right by Debenhams, which is where we had the Sainsbury’s mural.”
Sainsbury’s currently has 11 branches in Gloucestershire. In Gloucester it will leave the store at St Ann Way, near Gloucester Quays, and its Barnwood store, along with other smaller stores, such as the one on Barton Street.
The closure of the little supermarket leaves only the Tesco Express on Southgate Street, the Marks and Spencer’s on Eastgate Street and the Iceland store in King’s Square as the supermarket giants with small branches in the city.
