Sainsbury's to scrap Marsh Mills store café in major overhaul

Sainsbury's Marsh Mills will also axe its in-store cafe because not enough shoppers use them
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has announced it is to scrap the café from its Plymouth store. In Devon all four cafés in Sainsbury’s stores, including at Marsh Mills, are among those closing as part of a major overhaul.

The group made the announcement earlier this week saying shoppers do not use the cafés regularly enough to be economically viable.

It is now planning to shut its remaining 61 in-store cafés across the UK - almost three years after 200 were closed amid waning demand from shoppers. As well as its store in Plymouth, Sainsbury's will also close its in-store cafes in Pinhoe Road, Exeter, Barnstaple and Torquay.

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Sainsbury's says that while fewer shoppers are using cafés, in-store food halls and concessions are growing in popularity. It will also close its remaining patisserie, hot food and pizza counters in-store and make the most popular items available in the aisles instead.

The closures come amid plans by the UK’s largest supermarket group to save £1 billion over three years. The latest round of café closures is part of a shake-up which will result in the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

The latest cuts will see around 20% of senior management roles axed as part of plans to focus on fewer, bigger roles and to simplify head office and management teams.

It comes after Sainsbury’s announced its “biggest ever” Christmas trading period and said profit for the full-year would likely be between £1.01 billion and £1.06 billion earlier in January. But the supermarket is also trying to cut costs, and last year it cut about 1,500 roles - mostly from a contact centre in Cheshire.

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The firm said it will “explore redeployment opportunities where this is possible” for people affected by the job cuts.

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