British supermarket retailer Asda is planning to close its Enfield Home Shopping Centre in North London.
The decision follows the retailer’s investment in digital capabilities and the opening of two fully automated Home Shopping Centres in London over the last 18 months.
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The two shopping centres, one in Heston and one in Dartford, created more than 700 new jobs and will enable the company to achieve increased capacity, improved accuracy and faster fulfilment.
The retailer is also entering a consultation with colleagues working at the facility as the closure proposals would affect them.
Opened in 2010, the facility currently employs 261 colleagues and serves the shopping needs of 4,500 customers each week.
Asda grocery home shopping vice-president Simon Gregg said: “Despite great efforts by our colleagues at Enfield, restrictions on the site mean we are not able to make the necessary further improvements to meet the speed of fulfilment and product ranges that our customers now expect.
“Therefore, we’ve entered a consultation process with colleagues on proposals to close the facility.
“Our current proposals involve expanding capacity in our Heston centre and discussing options for colleagues to take on roles in other neighbouring stores.
“Whilst conversations about change are never easy, we would always work to find new opportunities for impacted colleagues, with redundancy as a last resort.”
