Workers at a Rubery supermarket have been given less than 4 weeks notice that their store is to close – and told they will have to reapply for jobs in a new brand discount store run by Tesco.
The Guardian wrote on Sunday that Tesco are expected to close up to 60 Metro stores and replace them with rebranded stores, in a bid to compete with discount market leaders Lidl and Aldi.
We now understand that around 60 staff at Rubery’s Tesco Metro have today (Tuesday 24th July) been told their store will close in just under 4 weeks and that they will be expected to reapply for a job, move to another store or take redundancy.
Tesco have yet to officially announce their discount store plans and which stores are to be affected but positions within a “new store format” have been advertised for another store online. One job ad states: “The new retail format will be operated separately from the core Tesco business and as such benefits offered will be different from those offered at Tesco.”
It has been widely reported that the new stores will be called Jack’s, in honour of Tesco founder Jack Cohen.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We confirm we have announced the closure of the Tesco store at Rubery. Our priority now is to support colleagues affected. We will give more details in due course.”