MOBILE retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced all its standalone stores will close including its Barnsley town centre shop.
Dixons Carphone, which own Carphone Warehouse, will close all stores on April 3.
The move comes as the company has chosen to focus on selling mobile devices and connectivity through its shop-in-shops in 305 big Currys PCWorld stores, including the one on Peel Retail Park on Harborough Hill, and online.
The stores have 4,700 employees nationwide.
Around 40 per cent of employees will redeployed internally and around 2,900 employees face redundancy.
An employee, who works at a store outside Barnsley but used to work at the Carphone Warehouse store on Old Mill Lane, spoke of how he was only given a few hours’ notice before news went public.
“We received a message at 7.05am on Tuesday to inform us that all stores will be closing.
“There is the opportunity to be redeployed within the company but the hours available are less than what we’re working now and there will be several people applying internally which means we’ll have to be interviewed. There is huge uncertainty.
“I feel like Dixons have not invested enough into the Carphone Warehouse and focused a lot of their attention online which has impacted us in store and it’s very much been a ‘them and us’ kind of relationship even though it’s allegedly ‘one company’.
“No-one is happy and I’ll miss working in-store as you build strong friendships. We are employed until the consultation period is over on April 24.
“With the recent coronavirus outbreak it is worrying that we will be able to find employment because the bills won’t stop and Universal Credit is a nightmare. It’s a horrible situation to be facing and I wish all my fellow colleagues the best.”
Alex Baldock, the group chief executive said: “Customers are changing how they buy technology, and Dixons Carphone must change with them. We’re underway with a fundamental transformation to do so. The decision is an essential part of that, the next step in
making our UK mobile business a success for customers, colleagues and other shareholders.
“Clearly, with unsustainable losses of £90m expected this year, Mobile is currently holding back the whole business. There’s never an easy time for an announcement like this, but the turbulent times ahead only underline the importance of acting now.”
