Morrisons is planning to close just over 100 company-owned convenience stores over the coming months, putting hundreds of jobs at risk and marking another sharp turn in its overhaul of the business. The move comes from a chain that has been trimming and reshaping its estate while also betting on a bigger convenience push elsewhere.
The stores were picked up in Morrisons’ £190 million rescue deal for McColl’s in 2022, and the supermarket has said they have been loss-making for some time. Performance has also been challenged for years despite repeated efforts to lift trading, leaving the company with a hard choice between keeping underperforming sites open and redirecting money to stores it sees as stronger bets.
That is why the closure plan is drawing attention now. Morrisons has roughly 1,700 Morrisons Daily stores, and a large share of them are owned and run by independent retailers rather than the company itself. So while just over 100 company-owned sites are being wound down, the Morrisons Daily brand is still being expanded in another direction. In October, The Telegraph reported that the chain was set to launch 250 new Morrisons Daily convenience stores in 2026, extending a franchise model that is still growing.
The split is a reminder that the chain is not retreating from convenience retail so much as changing who operates it and where the money goes. Rami Baitiéh framed the March 2025 cuts as part of plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons, and he has been using the same logic to steer the company toward areas that he says matter most to customers. But the broader picture is harder to square neatly: Morrisons is closing more than 100 company-owned convenience stores even as it prepares to add hundreds more Morrisons Daily sites next year.
That contradiction is the core of the story. The company’s latest move affects stores tied to the McColl’s rescue deal, while its franchise model keeps expanding and the wider convenience market remains a growth area. The unresolved question now is not whether Morrisons wants to keep building in convenience retail, but which specific Morrisons Daily locations will close and how quickly the shutdowns will happen.
