JOHN Lewis is to permanently shut eight more stores in a move which will put 1,465 jobs under threat across the business.
This includes its Basingstoke home store, putting 93 jobs at risk in the Hampshire town alone.
The John Lewis shop in West Quay shopping centre in Southampton is now the only one close by for Salisbury shoppers.
The department store retailer told staff on Wednesday morning (March 24) that it will not reopen the stores after lockdown measures lift, as it undergoes a major shift in strategy to adapt to changing shopping habits.
The eight shops set to close comprise four At Home stores in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells and four department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York.
The partnership also said it expects its financials to get worse over the current financial year as it continues its shake-up, and warned staff - including those at Salisbury's Waitrose - they are not expected to receive a bonus until 2022-23.
Waitrose Salisbury. Picture by Tom Gregory.
First losses since 1864
It said its remaining 34 John Lewis shops in England will reopen from April 12 subject to Government guidance. Its Glasgow store will open on April 26 and Edinburgh on May 14.
The announcement came eight months after the high street stalwart closed another eight stores, in a move which cut around 1,300 jobs, in the first stage of a sweeping overhaul.
John Lewis Partnership also said on Wednesday that it will transfer the operations of its Waitrose distribution centre in Leyland, Lancashire, to XPO Logistics.
It said 436 Waitrose staff at the site will be transferred to XPO.
John Lewis has been buoyed by soaring online sales in recent months but these were not sufficient to offset its decline in store sales as it tumbled to a £517 million pre-tax loss for the year to January.
It was the first loss in the group’s history dating back to 1864.
Earlier this month, the John Lewis Partnership confirmed it would shut more sites and said its partners would not receive an annual bonus for the first time in 68 years.
Last year, the company announced separate plans to axe around 1,500 head office jobs to help cut costs.
The move was intended to help the business save around £50 million as part of wider plans to reduce total costs by £300 million
Get more Salisbury news and nominate your local heroes for the South Wiltshire Hero Awards.
You can also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date.
If you want online news with fewer ads, unlimited access and reader rewards - plus a chance to support our local journalism - find out more about registering or a digital subscription.
Email newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk with your comments, pictures, letters and news stories.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here