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Getir carries out mass store closures

Getir

Getir carries out mass store closures

Getir has closed a slew of stores in the last week, including all of its sites in Wales and the South West of England.

The quick delivery company, which made huge layoffs last month, has also closed locations in Birmingham and London without warning in recent days, raising fears that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy.

According to one source, the whole Birmingham shop crew was summoned in suddenly, laid off on-site, and made to leave the premises immediately.

Read More: Getir workers left ‘crying and angry’ as mass redundancies announced

The source said: “My store had 15 staff, [they are] all now gone.”

The ordeal was described as “a frantic smash and grab job repossession”.

It is unclear whether the stores used by Getir to fulfil online grocery orders are owned by the company or run by franchisees. 

Read More: Getir rumoured to be cutting more than 200 jobs

As of November 2022, franchisees run three-quarters of Getir's 100 UK-based dark stores - stores which aren't open to the public that are used for retail storage.

Employees at the Birmingham store had not been consulted about the possibility of redundancy, according to the source, and they were writing to their local MP because Getir had not responded to questions.

The announcement follows a round of major layoffs across Getir last month, which was dubbed a "redundancy massacre." Employees were fired on a regular basis in one-on-one meetings, with up to 300 jobs expected to be eliminated.

Read More: Getir set to lay off staff at UK office

In a time of unrest in the fast food delivery industry, as demand has declined after the pandemic, Getir acquired rival company Gorillas in a £1 billion deal in December.

This has caused the market to shrink and consolidate, as many competing businesses had been concentrating on increasing sales rather than profitability to take the lead in the market.

More store closures and employment losses, according to a different Getir source.

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He said “The latest job cuts will be even harder as they are brutally targeting front-line staff, who are surviving in the current economic climate with living costs,”

Amid the turmoil, workers expressed concerns that the firm might be on the brink of collapse.

“We think Getir is going into administration. No one is even reachable at head office,” one source told Charged.

Getir declined to comment.

SourceCharged Retail

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