Carphone Warehouse to shut 531 standalone stores

The company cited changes in the way people shop as the driving force behind its decision and stressed its 305 stores inside larger Currys PC Worlds around the country would remain open.

It added that the Covid-19 outbreak has no bearing on the decision.

Almost 40 percent of staff – around 1,800 – affected by the closures are expected to take new roles in the business, it said.

The small standalone stores, representing around eight percent of Dixons Carphone’s total UK selling space, will close on April 3, 2020.

Group chief executive Alex Baldock said consumers are increasingly buying online and from its large stores, which sell computers and televisions, as well as mobiles, instead of its smaller, standalone mobile shops.

Baldock said: “Customers are changing how they buy technology, and Dixons Carphone must change with them. We’re underway with a fundamental transformation to do so. Today’s tough decision is an essential part of that, the next step in making our UK mobile business a success for customers, colleagues and other shareholders.

“Clearly, with unsustainable losses of £90m expected this year, mobile is currently holding back the whole business. There’s never an easy time for an announcement like this, but the turbulent times ahead only underline the importance of acting now.”