Argos to close 400 stores – goodbye Woolwich, Charlton and Thamesmead branches?
Sainsbury’s have today announced the closure of 420 Argos stores and 3,500 staff redundancies.
Sainsbury’s bought Argos in 2016 and have progressively moved services into their stores. After closures, around 100 Argos stores will remain.
The closure of over 80 per cent of stores means many south east London branches are unlikely to be long for this world.
Charlton is an obvious candidate for closure with a large Sainsburys located nearby.
Thamesmead could also close with Abbey Wood Sainsbury’s relatively close. OK, hardly walkable so we’ll see.
Eltham is another town with an Argos close to Sainsbury’s.
Woolwich Argos looks on the at-risk list with Sainsbury’s nearby, though Woolwich Sainsbury’s is not the same superstore size as Charlton and Abbey Wood.
Erith is also at risk having not reopened after the first lockdown ended.
The target is to include smaller branches in store at some Sainsbury’s – as seen in Lee and Crayford to give two examples – and encourage people to use click and collect including at Sainsbury’s Local branches.
Last thing I bought from Argos was a desktop pc….just bought online…..looking back the purchase of Argos seemed to me to be a waste of money…as Catalogue shopping isn’t dead but more people use Apps and order from there…as in fact in both cases apart from a photo you are buying blind….
The Covid silliness has accelerated the changes with many losing their jobs but like many others I use eBay for many items that are non available in any shop locally…
I spoke to a cashier in Wilkos in Woolwich and she said they were closing end of this year…
I do ocassionally use the Argos store in Woolwich and I always found it a useful and friendly store to go to if I need something in a rush or I want to avoid delivery fees. When it was closed during the lockdown, Sainsbury’s in Woolwich wouldn’t allow Click & Collect on many of the products in the Argos catalogue.
I guess if they close the Woolwich Argos store they will change the nearby Sainsbury’s shop floor space from the deli/fish counter services to an Argos click & collect concession.
This is an excerpt from Sainsbury’s LSE announcement…
“Close our meat, fish and deli counters, based on reduced customer demand. This will make stores simpler to run and reduce food waste. We will keep adding more quality and innovation in our aisles.”
“120 of our standalone Argos stores have not reopened since we closed them back in March. These stores will now close permanently. We currently have 315 Argos stores in our supermarkets and 296 collection points across supermarkets and convenience stores. Over the next three years we will open up to another 150 Argos Stores in supermarkets and a further 150-200 collection points. In total, we will close around 420 Argos stores by March 2024, reducing the total number of standalone stores to around 100.”
“As at 19 September 2020, closed stores due to COVID-19 include 11 Sainsbury’s Convenience stores; 142 standalone Argos stores and six Argos in Homebase stores. A decision was made at the end of the half, as announced as part of the Restructuring Programme, to not reopen the 142 standalone Argos stores and six Argos in Homebase stores.”
I think the standalone Argos stores hold a bigger range of stock behind the counter, so better than the Sainsbury’s in-store set up.
I hope the Argos store in the Lewisham shopping doesn’t close, notwithstanding that there is a small area in the Lee Green Sainsbury’s shop. Generally, Argos is more expensive than elsewhere and it’s the convenience that people liked.
The standalone Argos Stores do tend to hold a larger range of stock.
The larger Argos Stores are also where the majority of same day home deliveries are normally dispatched from.With the exception of larger items that need a two person delivery like beds freezers etc.
Like previously mentioned I do not think all Sainsburys Stores are large enough to accommodate a Argos section in the stores.
I’ve worked in the Charlton store for a long time now. It’s highly unlikely it’ll close because it’s a hub store. What that means is it stores a lot of the stock which then gets transferred to collections points at Sainsbury’s and other smaller Argos stores. It makes more money than any other Argos I’m SE London. They make a crazy amount on a daily basis, trust me having worked there I know it won’t close, despite it being next to a Sainsbury’s.
Thank you for the update Sponge Bob. That will be good news for a lot of people I am sure.