Asda has announced plans to close its stand-alone George clothing high street stores after its four and a half year town-centre pilot failed to live up to its potential.
The supermarket chain said focus on its non-food operations will now be shifted to its out-of-town Asda Living concept, which will continue to sell the George brand .
Asda will reportedly shutdown ten of its 11 stand-alone George stores within the next three months, while the remaining outlet in Manchester will be converted into an Asda Living store .
The closures are expected to affect 400 Asda employees, although they may be offered jobs in other nearby Asda stores .
The store closure proposal, which was unveiled to members of staff yesterday, was put forward by company bosses who revealed the retailer had failed to bring in the high volume sales required to cover the high rents being paid for its city-centre sites.
George boss Anthony Thompson said: “We are very pleased with how Asda Living is performing and we believe it has great potential. We believe that the out-of-town format is better than the high street.”
Asda opened its first George stores back in September 2003 as part of an initiative by current chief executive Andy Bond .
Leave a Reply