Nine of the 10 unprofitable supermarkets set to be closed by Morrisons are in the north and West Midlands, Estates Gazette can reveal.
The full list of stores – including supermarkets in Northumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Merseyside and the West Midlands – includes just one site in the South of England, a 33,824 sq ft supermarket in Crawley, West Sussex.
The decision to close 10 supermarkets was announced by the company yesterday as it revealed a 5.2% dip in like-for-like sales in the six weeks to 4 January.
The grocer also announced that chief executive Dalton Philips would step down.
View Morrisons store closures in a full screen map
| Store closures | sq ft |
|---|---|
| Cramlington, Northumberland | 12,871 sq ft |
| Accrington, Lancashire | 10,000 sq ft |
| Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire | 10,215 sq ft |
| Bransholme, Hull,Yorkshire | 12,680 sq ft |
| Donnington, Telford, West Midlands | 10,600 sq ft |
| West Bromwich, West Midlands | 15,069 sq ft |
| Church Road, Wallasey, Merseyside | 13,426 sq ft |
| Newton le Willows, Merseyside | 17,500 sq ft |
| Rugby, Warwickshire | 11,239 sq ft |
| Crawley, Broadfield Barton, West Sussex | 33,824 sq ft |
Morrisons owns the freehold of the majority of its supermarkets.
Last year the company appointed Cushman & Wakefield to start a £500m sale and leaseback programme across its supermarket and distribution portfolios in an attempt to unlock value from its estate.
Tom Edson, director of out-of-town retail at JLL, said: “Considering the market is obsessed with discount food retailers, it interesting to see that Morrisons is choosing to close smaller stores, which in theory are the ideal size for the likes of Aldi or Lidl probably because on the whole they are losing sales to larger hypermarkets nearby.”
