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Sainsbury Plans 3,000 Job Cuts as U.K. Retail Toll Grows

Sainsbury Plans 3,000 Job Cuts as U.K. Retail Toll Grows

J Sainsbury Plc plans to cut 3,000 jobs, according to a person familiar with the matter, adding to the growing employment toll in the U.K. retail industry.

The supermarket operator plans to eliminate positions across its business, including the Argos housewares chain, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the cuts have yet to be announced. Sainsbury is set to publish a financial update Thursday morning.

It’s more grim news for Britain’s retail sector, after department-store owner and grocer John Lewis Partnership Plc said Wednesday that it will cut another 1,500 jobs as it seeks to restore profitability.

In addition to reductions at Argos, which Sainsbury bought in 2016, job losses are expected at the grocer’s delicatessens and fresh fish and meat counters. Sainsbury’s employs more than 170,000 people in the U.K.

A Sainsbury representative declined to comment. The layoffs were first reported by the Times.

Close to 125,000 jobs were lost in the U.K. retail sector in the first eight months of the year, the Centre for Retail Research said in September. The industry was already struggling to cope with the structural shift to greater online shopping before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Retailers will be under further pressure from Thursday as all non-essential shops in England have to shut for four weeks in a bid to contain the resurgence in Covid-19 infections.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.