The company behind B & Q and Screwfix, Kingfisher, have announced that they plan to close around 60 B & Q stores over the next two years.
However it does have plans to open 60 new stores under the brand Screwfix.
A statement released by Kingfisher said ”Kingfisher has said for some time that B&Q UK & Ireland can adequately meet local customer needs from fewer stores and that some of the store should be smaller,”.
It is anticipated that there will be a one off cost of £350m in order to close the stores which comes after Kingfisher announcing a 15.2% fall in pre-tax profit to £644m for 2014.
Of the 360 B&Q stores in the UK and Ireland, has so far confirmed the locations of six store closures which are: Southampton, Hyde in Greater Manchester, Baums Lane in Mansfield, Dundee, Station Road in Stechford in Birmingham, and Barnsley.
This move quickly started to cause panic around the current B & Q employees, however it is expected that it will be minimal due to the planned Screwfix openings and other plans to employ staff in other parts of the business.
