Whole Foods is axing its line of luxury products for an expanded range of discounted items at its London stores, as it looks to recover from widening losses.
The Amazon-owned supermarket has scrapped its ‘cheese vault’ – a designated room for fine cheeses inside its Kensington flagship – and line of eco-friendly, packaging-free grains and nuts, the Evening Standard reported.
The retailer has also replaced much of its checkout staffing with self-service checkouts, cutting the number of in-store staff by 24.
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‘Low prices’ signs have been introduced across its seven stores in the city to promote the new batch of discount items.
The focus on value comes as Whole Foods posted a pre-tax loss of £26m from its seven branches, up from 52% the previous year, while its sales dropped 2.9% to £91.6m.
The upmarket grocer blamed falling profits on “decreased demand driven by higher costs caused by inflation”.
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