Morrisons is set to cut almost 30 of its in-store florist branches as Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have caused sales to slow down.
Although the supermarket giant opened a further 60 florist stations in the autumn of 2020 when sales were high, according to reporting by The Grocer, many of these are “not commercially viable.”
In stores where branches are due to be closed, a centralised service in the Midlands will now be providing a new range of hand-tied flower bouquets.
Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning
However despite the changes, Morrisons is still looking to operate over 160 florist stations nationwide and has said that any staff impacted by the closures will be offered alternate roles.
“Following a detailed review of our florist offer we have made the decision to close 26 florists that are not commercially viable,” a Morrisons spokesperson told The Grocer.
“In these stores, we will be launching a new range of hand-tied bouquets for customers that are created at our Flowerworld site in Derby.
“We will continue to offer customers a florist service in over 160 stores. We are offering all affected colleagues alternate roles should they wish to stay at Morrisons.”
This comes as Morrisons employees have said that morale is “super-low” following a “government-enforced pay rise’” which brings its hourly-paid workers in line with the new national living wage of £10.42 per hour.
