THE owners of Argos have confirmed its Crewe store is among those shops shutting first as part of a radical restructure.

Sainsbury's are planning to axe 420 standalone stores while opening new Argos stores in the company's supermarkets.

Crewe's Argos store in the Market Centre has not reopened since the first lockdown and Sainsbury's say that any such store will remain closed permanently.

In total 120 standalone stores have not reopened their doors since March. Sainsbury's plans to close a further 300 Argos standalone stores by March 2024 which the company says is part of a "review" of its estate.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "Any standalone Argos store which has not reopened since March will remain closed permanently. We have not confirmed any other closures at this stage."

And the spokesperson added: "While these stores have remained closed many Argos colleagues have been redeployed to help in other Argos stores and Sainsbury's supermarkets.

Despite the gloom, Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts said that 350 new Argos stores would be opened within the organisation's supermarkets and he said: "Argos sales have been strong over the past six months and we have gained almost two million new customers as people have re-connected with Argos.

"We are talking to colleagues about where the changes we are announcing in Argos standalone stores impact their roles.

"We will work really hard to find alternative roles for as many of these colleagues as possible and expect to be able to offer alternative roles for the majority of impacted colleagues."

The nearest in-store Argos outlet is at Nantwich's Sainsbury's supermarket.