Thomas Cook announces more shop closures
Thomas Cook is to close a further 17 shops in addition to the 39 closures it announced in mid-February.
Four of the stores are branded Thomas Cook, the remainder are all Co-operative Travel shops.
The travel giant said it had told staff of the closures last Thursday.
In total, 62 staff members will be affected. "As always, should these proposals go ahead we will look to retain as many of our colleagues as possible with alternative opportunities within Thomas Cook," the company said in a statement.
"This announcement is part of the ongoing reshaping of our retail network in the UK, which includes opening new Discovery stores and refurbishing existing Neighbourhood stores."
Thomas Cook opened a fourth Discovery store in Kingston in London earlier this month and last week opened a brand new store in Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow.
In May, it will re-open its Metro Centre store in Gateshead as a Discovery store.
"To date we have completed 32 refurbishments of Neighbourhood stores which included changing the brand from Cooperative to Thomas Cook, and we plan to do 14 more by the end of May," added the company.
"There are further Discovery stores and Neighbourhood store refurbishments in the pipeline as we continue to reshape our store network to give our customers the best of Thomas Cook."
News of the latest shop closures come in the same month that Thomas Cook announced that it was getting rid of around 50 homeworker roles.
Kathryn Darbandi, director of retail and customer experience, said: "These store closures come as part of the ongoing review of our store network to make sure that we can serve our customers in the way that suits them best.
"We know there is a big role for our shops in helping our customers choose and book the right holiday for them, and I’m looking forward to announcing more Discovery store openings in the coming months to help us to achieve that."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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