WOOLWORTHS has confirmed to the Gazette that its Windsor and Richmond supermarkets will not be closing.
The company announced on Monday that it would shed 500 jobs in its administration and supply chain and close 21 Australian supermarkets in a major restructure.
It also indicated it would close five underperforming Big W stores.
While our Hawkesbury supermarkets are safe, the spokesperson would not comment on the fate of the Richmond Big W, only saying “we have identified five BIG W stores that are likely to close in the next three years based on current trading performance”.
The company is expected to lose up to $17 million in its Big W stores this year.
Fairfax reported earlier in the week that the supermarkets closing were predominantly older ones that were either "loss-making or in the bottom quartile" of sales per square metre.
The company told other media that the impact of Aldi on the market has been huge.
The union which covers Woolies’ workers, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association told Fairfax that where stores were closing they were working to keep people in jobs. National secretary Gerard Dwyer told Fairfax “we've had an undertaking from Woolworths that their focus will be on redeploying workers to other positions where possible”.
The Woolworths spokesperson told the Gazette that “Woolworths looks forward to continuing to deliver our great produce and low everyday prices to our customers in Windsor and Richmond, and we thank them for their ongoing loyalty”.
