Sainsbury's to close 55 stores and 70 Argos shops as part of restructure plan

Sainsbury's has announced it is to close a number of its supermarkets across the country with Argos stores also being hit.

The supermarket has said 55 stores will be axed over the next five years.

Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury's, will also close 70 stores by 2024.

But the supermarket chain has said it has a plan to counterbalance the closures with the opening of new stores.

It has yet to confirm which of its stores will be closing, but say it will be a mix of both local and full-sized supermarkets, and said they will open 10 supermarkets over the next five years as well as 110 new local branches.

A total of 80 new Argos shops will also be opened.

The chain has around 600 supermarkets across the UK as well as 820 convenience stores.

Sainsbury's has owned Argos since September 2016 when Home Retail Group agreed to be taken over by the supermarket for £1.4billion.

In its second quarter trading update, the supermarket said it's focusing on improving grocery performance after sales increased by 0.6 per cent in April to June.

It plans to bring down costs by £500million over the next five years.

The closures could affect shoppers of Sainsbury’s and Argos across the UK but jobs are not expected to be hit.