Retailers close the door on shops

Tandy blamed store closures on shopping trends, while John Menzies wants to focus its resources on distribution.

High street electrical chain Tandy has been forced to close about 20ants to focus its resources on distribution. per cent of its stores in a bid to drastically cut overheads.

The company claims the move was part of a two-year review of the whole company and was essential to improve its profitability. It will close 69 of its 338 UK stores, causing 230 job losses. Despite the closures, the group remains the UK's second largest electrical retail chain.

Elizabeth Irwin, marketing manager at Tandy, said there were three reasons for the closures. The first was a change in shopping patterns. The second was a general decline in demand for town sites and finally, the growing popularity of out of town shopping centres.

Irwin denied the move was due to an overall decline in retail sales or problems over the Christmas period.

In a separate announcement John Menzies said it was putting its 232 retail stores up for sale to concentrate on its distribution arm - John Menzies Wholesale for newspapers, THE, and THE Games.

A representative for the group said: ' It is very good news for THE staff and a vote of confidence in the future of the business. It also means more investment for THE.'

In a statement, David Mackay, CEO at John Menzies, told staff at the games distributor: 'The retail market is changing at an incredible pace and the group felt it was best to focus our resources on the distribution operation.'

The company was reported as having found a buyer for the chain of stores at the end of last week. The representative claimed 90 per cent of the group's profit came from distribution, despite the retail arm generating turnover of #500 million.