34 Budgens locations around the country are set to close after its operator, Food Retailer Operations, went into liquidation.
The closures are set to impact over 800 jobs, with nine stores closed across the weekend and the remaining 25 set to close within the next few weeks. Food Retailer Operations had been struggled for a buyer to takeover its portion of Budgens locations, which it acquired in July.
Mike Denny, joint administrator at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said in comments to the BBC: “Unfortunately, we have been unable to find a buyer and it is not commercially viable to continue trading the stores.
“We are working closely with the Co-op, Usdaw and the relevant government agencies to ensure that all employees receive the maximum levels of practical and financial support through the redundancy process.”
Among the stores that have already been subject to closure, these have included:
Aberystwyth
Blackburn
South Benfleet
Ludlow
Weoley Castle
Norwich
Dagenham (Becontree)
Greenwich
Sydenham
The remainder of Budgens operations are owned by wholesaler Booker (LON:BOK), which has recently been taken over by supermarket giant Tesco (LON:TSCO) in a deal worth £3.7 billion. The chain currently has around 100 stores across the UK, and the closures will represent around 1/3 of the supermarkets locations.
At the time of the announcement of the landmark merger, Chief Executive Charlie Booker stated:
“Booker is committed to improving choice, prices and service for the independent retailers, caterers and small businesses that we are proud to serve. We believe that joining forces with Tesco offers the potential to bring major benefits to end consumers, our customers, suppliers, colleagues and shareholders.”
Despite the recent announcement of closures, CEO Booker remained optimistic about the future of the remainder of stores, which are run by independent operators. He commented: “The business is performing very strongly.”
Shares in Booker are down a modest 0.80 percent, with Tesco shares down a further -1.73 percent as of 10.31AM (GMT).