Morrisons to close 132 McColl's stores putting jobs at risk

Morrisons says it plans to close 132 of its loss-making McColl’s convenience stores, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.

Workers who could be made redundant will be offered jobs elsewhere in the business, the supermarket chain said.

The decision comes after Morrisons agreed to buy the McColl’s chain out of administration in May.

Morrisons now plans to convert all its remaining McColl’s stores into Morrisons Daily shops as it tries to return the chain to growth.

There are currently 1,164 McColl’s stores trading, 286 of which operate under the Morrisons Daily brand.

Morrisons said all of the stores set to close had been “loss-making for some time” and “no realistic prospect” of recovering soon.

The majority will be closed “in an orderly fashion over the remainder of the year”, it added.