Argos hoping Wulfrun Centre staff will move to Sainsbury's store
Argos is hoping all the staff at its Wulfrun Centre shop in Wolverhampton will move with the store to its new home in the city centre Sainsbury's superstore.
The Express & Star revealed at the weekend that the catalogue chain is closing its long-running store in the shopping centre and transferring the operation to a store-within-a-store at Sainsbury's on the Ring Road St Mark's.
The move will affect 28 staff – four managers and 24 shop floor workers.
It follows Sainsbury's £1.4 billion takeover of Argos and its Home Retail Group parent company last year.
Following the success of a trial run of operating Argos stores within Sainsbury supermarkets, the scheme is being rolled out to up to 200 outlets nationwide.
The Wulfrun Centre store is due to transfer to Sainsbury's in three months time, opening on October 10.
A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said: "The hope it that all colleagues will transfer, however we are currently in consultation with them on it."
The move will leave Wulfrun Centre owner London & Cambridge Properties with a glaring hole to fill.
It has been one of the biggest units in the centre for more than two decades, after a major investment by the catalogue chain saw its existing shop expand to take over two neighbouring units.
Sainsbury's says the new outlet will be one of the new Argos digital stores, where customers use tablet computers to order goods rather than the traditional paper catalogues.
The company says the new Argos will offer thousands of popular products for immediate pickup. 20,000 products will also be able to be ordered to collect in store within hours and 20,000 extra products can be ordered for home delivery.
There will also be an eBay collection point so buyers can collect their ebay purchases.
Leigh Baxter, West Midlands regional manager for Argos, said: “We are really proud to be introducing shoppers to our new-look stores within Sainsbury’s and give them access to the things they want quickly and easily. Shoppers increasingly browse and buy online via PCs, tablets and other mobile devices, while still wanting the immediacy of a local store to pick up their purchases.”
“We are really thrilled to be joining them in the Wolverhampton. The combination of Sainsbury’s and Argos will enable customers to shop conveniently through all those different channels. It will also give customers more choice across different product ranges, creating the UK’s largest non-food retailer.”
