Helensburgh Waitrose closure announced

Helensburgh’s branch of Waitrose is to close, it was announced today (Wednesday).

Shocked staff were told at a meeting held in the Lodge of the Loch Hotel in Luss that the store would close in early May.

It is understood that a different supermarket chain will take over the site, but not until the end of the year.

Some staff may be transferred to other stores, but others will be made redundant.

The store opened October 2013, creating 200 full- and part-time jobs, in competition with town centre branches of the Co-op and Tesco.

But it has also faced competition from Asda, Morrisons and now Lidl eight miles away in Dumbarton, as well as Aldi in Alexandria.

On Sunday the Guardian reported that John Lewis and Waitrose partners were to receive their lowest bonus in 67 years – if they got one at all – as the company was expected to reveal its third consecutive drop in annual profits.

And last month Sharon White, the new chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, told the employee-owned group’s staff council that it faced making ‘difficult decisions about stores and about jobs’ during what was its ‘most challenging period’ since its inception in the 1920s.

When it opened on a previously green field site the 25,000sq ft Helensburgh shop was the furthest yet from the site of the first Waitrose – a 430 mile drive from Acton.

Mark Price, Waitrose  managing director, said at the time: “While we’ve grown rapidly in scale since the very first Waitrose more than a century ago, it’s remarkable how the original philosophy of our founders  – based on the honesty and integrity of the business –  is still at the heart of everything we do.

“Although our new shop in Helensburgh demonstrates how the scale and ambition of our business has transformed over the decades, the pride in our food and in the distinctive customer service we offer, still has its roots in that very first modest business in Acton.”

Waitrose has been contacted for comment.