26 Jun 2015

Foodstuffs to cut 128 jobs

3:03 pm on 26 June 2015

Nearly 130 fulltime and part-time workers have lost their jobs, with Foodstuffs confirming it is closing some of its wholesale cash and carry stores in the North Island.

Two Toops stores and three Gilmours branches will close over the next two months, affecting 128 full-time and part-time employees.

The Toops stores are in Napier and New Plymouth and the Gilmours stores are in Panmure and Henderson in Auckland, and one in Rotorua.

Other Gilmour and Toops stores will remain open.

Foodstuffs North Island General Manager Retail Doug Cochrane said the company needed a network of large format stores to meet the evolving needs of its customers, and unfortunately the five stores being closed were not suitable.

The First Union, which represents workers at each site, said it was disappointed with the decision and was working to ensure they got redundancy.