Up to 7,000 job losses likely in convenience stores

RETAILERS have warned that a dozen newsagents and convenience stores are closing down every week, with up to 7,000 job losses expected in the sector by the end of the year.

Convenience Store and Newsagent Association chief executive Vincent Jennings said that due to the small number of workers affected by each closure it was a hidden aspect of the worsening jobs crisis.

He said: “Because these jobs are being lost a handful at a time many people don’t realise the scale of the disaster, but this is a virulent cancer eating away at communities all over the country.”