By Natasha Lomas, 14 January 2008 17:27
NEWS
Mobile operator 3 UK is to close the majority of its Superdrug retail concessions.
The company will exit 107 of the 127 concessions it has in the health and beauty chain, which is owned by its parent company Hutchison Whampoa.
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A 3 spokesman explained the operator initially opened the concessions as a quick way of gaining a high street presence but has since expanded its retail base - ramping up from 100 stores at the start of last year to 270 by the end.
A 3 spokesman told silicon.com: "There's quite a lot of duplication between the Superdrug sites and the 3 store sites so for that reason we're coming out of 107 Superdrug stores."
The mobile operator will keep 20 of the concessions - which the spokesman said are situated in towns where its retail stores do not reach. There will be "sub-300" job losses as a result of the closures - including some redundancies, said the spokesman.
He added: "We're in a consultation period with staff. It [the closures] was announced to them on Thursday and Friday. Some of those people will be redeployed within the business within retail. There are other opportunities within the company as a whole. But we expect there to be some redundancies. Some will be voluntary."
The spokesman said the process of closing the concessions might run to 90 days but the likelihood is staff "will make a decision and move on before then".
Comments
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1. John Anon
There have been some poor decisions made in the roll out of 3's retail stores.
There are members of staff who have been loyally working for the company nearly 5 years that are facing redundancy, yet new starters who will be safe.
Also staff across the business received postal notification of pay increases on the same day they were told they'd likely be laid off. Bit of a slap in the face really.........