Sainsbury’s issued the update as part of its latest financial statement but has not confirmed a list of locations of the Argos branches that will shut
Sainsbury’s has confirmed plans to shut more standalone Argos stores in a major blow for shoppers.
The supermarket chain, which owns Argos, has already shut dozens of Argos branches – but it has now revealed it will close nine more stores this financial year. Sainsbury’s has not published the locations of the branches that will be shutting.
The total number of standalone Argos stores has been reduced by 72, down to 213 from 385, since March 2023. The supermarket group has instead been focused on opening more Argos stores and collection points within its Sainsbury’s stores. The number of Argos stores within Sainsbury’s supermarkets has gone up by 22, from 424 to 446. The supermarket group plans on opening 13 new Argos stores within Sainsbury’s this year.
Between March and September 2024, Sainsbury’s closed six Argos standalone stores and two Argos collection points within Sainsbury’s stores. It opened three new Argos stores in Sainsbury’s and eight new Argos collection points within Sainsbury’s.
A spokesperson for Argos said: “The transformation of our Argos store and distribution network has been progressing at pace for several years now, improving availability, convenience and service for customers. As part of this, we are continuing to open new Argos stores and collection points in many of our Sainsbury’s supermarkets, enabling customers to purchase thousands of technology, home and toy products from Argos while picking up their groceries.”
