Grantham store to close its cafe for good

Sainsbury is to close its cafe which has been there since it was built for Safeway in 1990.

Instead, the area will be used by Argos, which is shutting its Guildhall Street store later this year.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said, “We have taken the decision to close cafés in a very small proportion of stores where they are less popular with customers. 

“This is so that we can use the space to offer other services, such as an Argos store in store and we will be speaking to affected colleagues about moving to roles in other areas of the store.

Argos will close its Guildhall Street store in November after as the company plans to close over 60 standalone stores.

The Argos shop, owned by Sainsburys, which closed when lockdown began in March, will shut its doors permanently in the autumn.

An Argos spokesman said, “Last September we announced a review of our estate, which included plans to close 60-70 standalone Argos stores and we have now updated colleagues on our plans to close the Guildhall Street store in November. Customers can continue to shop with us in nearby Sainsbury’s and Argos stores.”

“Colleagues will have the opportunity to redeploy to other available roles in the area. We understand this will be an unsettling time for those affected and we are supporting them in any way we can.”

Meanwhile, Argos will stop printing its famous catalogue after 48 years in response to a shift in customers’ shopping habits.