The John Lewis Partnership will not reopen eight John Lewis stores, including its department stores in Birmingham and Watford.
The shops identified for closure include two full-size department stores at Hammerson’s Grand Central shopping centre in Birmingham, and at intu Watford.
Two travel hub shops at Heathrow and St Pancras will also close, as well as four At Home shops in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth.
Around 1,300 jobs across the eight shops will now enter into consultation.
Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “Closing a shop is always incredibly difficult and today’s announcement will come as very sad news to customers and Partners.
“However, we believe closures are necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the Partnership – and continue to meet the needs of our customers however and wherever they want to shop.”
She added that the retailer would “soon announce the output of [its] strategic review”.
Outside of these, a further nine shops in Aberdeen, Ashford, Brent Cross, Chichester, Oxford, Peterborough, Reading, Sheffield and White City Westfield will reopen on 30 July.
Leicester will also reopen when the local lockdown for the city is lifted, taking the total number of reopened John Lewis shops to 42. The Swindon outlet will reopen on 30 July.
The store closures in full:
- Birmingham, Grand Central, department store, 136,000 sq ft
- Watford, Harlequin Centre (now intu Watford), department store, 96,620 sq ft
- Croydon, At Home, 52,000 sq ft
- Swindon, At Home, 59,000 sq ft
- Tamworth, At Home, 42,000 sq ft
- Newbury, At Home, 40,000 sq ft
- Heathrow Terminal Two, travel hub, 3,600 sq ft
- London St Pancras Train Station, travel hub, 3,000 sq ft
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