Basingstoke's John Lewis set to shut down with jobs at risk

The Basingstoke store is one of eight proposed for closure by the John Lewis partnership, as it seeks to rebalance its store estate to reflect changing ways of customers shopping.

The adjoining Waitrose store will not be affected by the closure.

It comes as a bitter blow for the town, which has also lost Debenhams, which occupied the flagship store in Festival Place, Topshop and Zara during the pandemic.

John Lewis will now enter into consultation with the 93 affected partners about the proposals, and aim to find alternative roles in the partnership for as many employees as possible.

Those who cannot or choose not to remain with the chain will have access to a retraining fund, contributing up to £3,000 towards qualifications or courses.

The Gazette reported earlier this month how John Lewis did not expect all of its stores to reopen after the Covid lockdown, after it reported its first ever annual loss.

It came as the company confirmed that its partners would not receive an annual bonus for the first time in 68 years.

Alison Gilbert, Head of Branch for John Lewis Basingstoke, said: “It is with a heavy heart that my team in John Lewis Basingstoke and I face the possibility of saying goodbye to our loyal customers. We hope that many of them would still continue to come to Waitrose next door.

"I would like to take the opportunity to thank my Partners for rallying together during this difficult period. I am grateful for their hard work and commitment.”

A spokesperson for John Lewis added: "At the Partnership’s full year results earlier this month we said that we will reshape our business in response to how our customers increasingly want to shop in-store and online. 

"This follows substantial research to identify and cater for new customer shopping habits in different parts of the country. As part of this, we believe we can unfortunately no longer profitably sustain the John Lewis shop in Basingstoke.

"However, the research means we will also invest in providing more access to John Lewis through improving our Click & Collect service, as well as trialling the introduction of John Lewis shopping areas in our Waitrose stores."

The eight shops identified for closure include four ‘At Home’ shops in Ashford, Basingstoke, Chester and Tunbridge Wells and four department stores in Aberdeen, Peterborough, Sheffield and York. 

John Lewis says that "all of these shops were financially challenged prior to the pandemic", and expect 60-70 per cent of sales to be made online in the future.

John Lewis say that home delivery is still available to customers in Basingstoke, offering named or next day delivery, standard 5-day delivery and next day Click & Collect. Customers can also collect their John Lewis purchases from 18 Waitrose Click & Collect points, including the adjoining Waitrose Basingstoke, and can shop with at the nearby Reading store, which will be unaffected.

Sharon White, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership said: “While Waitrose Basingstoke will remain open, we regret that we are proposing to close the neighbouring John Lewis store.

"We appreciate this is incredibly difficult news for our Partners and our Basingstoke customers.

"We would like to thank all our customers for their loyalty and our Partners for their hard work at this location over the years.

"The pandemic has dramatically accelerated the shift to online and we have had to take difficult but necessary decisions to secure the Partnership for the long-term.”