John Lewis is putting around 200 jobs at risk as it proposes closing in-store services, including foreign exchange bureaux and dedicated gift-wrapping desks, across parts of its UK store estate. According to multiple outlets, the company has launched a redundancy consultation with staff affected by the plans. The closures would remove bureaux de change services in 30 stores and specialist gift-wrapping desks in 25 stores, with the changes planned to take place during the autumn.
The proposals are described as reflecting changing customer shopping habits. Several reports also note that the final decision has not yet been made, and the consultation process is underway. Coverage highlights that the affected roles are linked specifically to the in-store service counters rather than to the wider store operations.
Overall, the announcements centre on planned roll-back of physical in-store services—money exchange and gift-wrapping—followed by a consultation with employees before any redundancies and store-level service closures are implemented.
