Sainsbury’s has scrapped plans to open a new 80,000 sq ft supermarket in Middlehaven, Middlesbrough, despite the store having already been built.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said it was “very disappointed” it had been unable to open the new shop following a review. It confirmed it would no longer be closing its Wilson Street store, which is smaller at 30,000 sq. ft.
The store was to be leased by the supermarket, which will now be searching for a new tenant to sublet the premises. It forms part of a bigger retail development which is close to being finished will have a Marston’s pub, Costa Coffee and KFC.
At the end of last year the supermarket chain announced it was reviewing all its development plans after posting a half year statutory pre-tax loss of £290m for the 28 weeks to 27 September 2014.
At the time Sainsbury’s confirmed it would cut back on new stores, opening 500,000 sq ft of space over the next two years, versus a previously stated 750,000 sq ft, followed by 350,000 sq ft in 2017/18.
The Sainsbury’s spokesman said that “shopping patterns” had changed and confirmed that the Middlehaven scheme was no longer viable.
“We are now marketing the building to interested retailers and will focus support on our Wilson Street store, which remains extremely popular with our customers,” he said.
It is thought that the increased move towards convenience and growth in online retailing could have been contributory factors to the decision.
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