Tesco is planning to close its Vins Plus store in the Cité d’Europe shopping mall near Calais at the end of next month.
There are 71 staff at the store which opened 15 years ago, largely to cater for a UK clientele in search of cheap alcohol.
However, the store’s appeal as a convenient, competitively-priced outlet for alcohol has diminished as a result of the weak pound against the euro and the recession while UK supermarkets have also dropped their prices.
Unions at Tesco Vins Plus contest the management’s view that the store is no longer a going concern and claim that a report from an independent auditor appointed by the works council concludes that there is no economic justification to close the store.
Works council meetings planned for next week will discuss the auditor’s report and also redundancy terms.
Earlier this year, Oddbins Calais closed its doors while according to industry reports Sainsbury will close its Calais Wine store – a jv with French counterpart, Auchan, at the end of the month.
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