THE NORTHWICH branch of Argos is set to close at the end of July and move into a supermarket in the town centre.

Currently located in Northwich Retail Park, Argos will close its doors on July 27, but open those to its new store in Sainsbury's the following day.

The supermarket giant bought the catalogue retailer five years ago and in recent times has been opening up smaller click and collect style stores under the same roof in response to ever-changing consumer habits.

The company has confirmed it will be closing hundreds of the stand alone Argos branches around the country and would be replacing around 50 per cent of them with smaller ones within its supermarkets.

From July 28 Argos will be located at the site of the former cafe of the Venables Road store, which was recently closed and the furniture from it donated to a local care home.

Northwich Guardian:

Argos will close at Northwich Retail Park on July 27 and open in Sainsbury's the next day

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: "Later this month, a brand new Argos store will open inside Sainsbury’s Northwich supermarket.

"By bringing together the much-loved brands of Sainsbury’s and Argos under the one roof, our customers will be able to enjoy greater convenience as the new Argos will enable them to purchase thousands of technology, home and toy products whilst picking up their groceries.

"Last year we shared plans to open 150 more Argos stores in Sainsbury’s and add 150-200 more Argos collection points in supermarkets and convenience stores by March 2024.

"As a result of this, we will no longer need as many Argos standalone stores and so we have said that we will close around 420 branches.

"This includes our Argos Northwich Retail Park store, which will close this month.

"We understand this will be an unsettling time for those affected and colleagues will be offered the opportunity to redeploy to other roles within Sainsbury's."