AN online petition has been launched in a bid to persuade Sainsbury’s to change their minds on a decision to end a joint venture which will see the closure of 16 Netto stores, including one in Lymm, Warrington, within the next few weeks.
Nearly 1,000 people have already signed the petition.
Petition organiser Kevin Tennant from Doncaster said: “The chain employs 400 people and its brightly coloured supermarkets have brought new life to moribund or disused store units across the North of England.
“The stores are best known for their discount range of produce, fresh fruit, bakery including a range of Danish pastries, and discount booze, as well as the colourful weekly magazine that they put through our letterboxes, and stunts involving it’s giant Lego dog logo.
“We respectfully suggest that while Sainsbury’s are within their right to cancel this venture that they think again, as some of these stores have been open for less than a year and this is not sufficient time to build a retail footprint.
“Communities, some of which are in areas of great deprivation, will also be affected as they lose discount supermarkets not long after getting one for the first time.
“Many of the areas served by Netto will feel a real material loss from the store closing and will be left with only one other or even no other local alternative.
“We feel that Netto’s general cheerfulness has been a breath of fresh air in the retail environment and it will be a great economic and social loss for this brand which has generated real affection in its short time back in the UK to disappear.”
The Lymm store has been purpose built and created around 24 local jobs. There were also plans to open a second store at Penketh.
A 50 per cent closing down sale at the Lymm store created so much interest earlier this week police had to issue traffic warnings.
But Sainsburys stress that the decision was a “joint decision” with Netto’s Danish owners the Dansk Supermarked Group (DSG).
It is expected that the 16 stores will continue to trade throughout July and will close during August.
The Netto UK JV was launched in June 2014 to explore the fast-growing discount grocery retail segment in the UK. Following the initial period of trial store openings, DSG and Sainsbury’s made their decision to end the venture after assessing trading data, customer and operational insights, expansion costs, the evolving food retail market and long-term strategies for each business.
The businesses are working together to minimise the impact of this decision on Netto colleagues and will be consulting with and supporting colleagues through this period of change.
The current carrying value of the investment in the Netto JV within J Sainsbury plc consolidated group accounts is £20m which will be written down to zero. Sainsbury’s is also expecting cash costs of circa £10m to wind down the business. These amounts will be excluded from underlying results.
To sign the petition visit https://www.change.org/p/sainsbury-s-sainsbury-s-reconsider-your-decision-to-close-netto-s-uk-stores
