Morning:
8°c
Fortnum's cuts staff by 10 per cent to face 'tough' year ahead
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Affairs Editor27 Jan 2009
THE Queen's grocer Fortnum & Mason has become the latest retail victim of the recession, announcing plans to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce.
Managing director Beverley Aspinall told staff yesterday that up to 55 jobs would have to go out of a total of 530 at the 302-year-old store because of "very, very tough" trading conditions.
Although Fortnum's, like many West End stores, has been protected from the worst of the downturn by an upsurge in tourism, sales are still expected to be 10 per cent down on 2008 this year.
Ms Aspinall said: "Christmas week was good and anyone in central London will tell you it was really busy between Christmas and New Year. But the beginning of December had been really difficult and overall, December was about eight per cent below our budget.
"January so far is OK and has been buoyed by the tourist market, but we think the underlying figures in 2009 will be very, very tough. So we are taking action now in anticipation of it being a very difficult this year."
She insisted that shop floor or front-of house-staff - including the frock-coated doormen - would not be affected and all the cuts would be in administrative and management roles.
The downturn comes little more than a year after the completion of a £24 million makeover of the Piccadilly institution to mark its tercentenary.
It appeared to have transformed the fortunes of the store, which had been loss-making for some years, with sales booming last year.
Other major West End stores are said to have traded well over Christmas, but are increasingly nervous about prospects later in the year.
Graham Edgerton, finance director of Jaeger, which has its flagship store in Regent Street, said business had held up well during the New Year sale, but the real test would be how consumers react when the discounts finally end.
Selfridges has said its takings were five per cent ahead of last year in December, but has warned that this year will be "bloody hard". House of Fraser only managed a 1.5 per cent rise in the Christmas month.
Andy Street, managing director of John Lewis, said he was encouraged by the strength of trading so far this month and said there were even "green shoot" signs of recovery at Peter Jones, which has been one of the hardest hit of the chain's stores.
Reader views (9)
i used to work at fortnums and i have to say, their business infrastructure is very shoddy. they lose so much money from simple incompetence. things like: the website not working, badly trained staff. outsourcing telephone orders through to scotland. outdated database systems...it was a homely work environment but everybody knew this place was never serious about making profit.
- Lol, merton, london, 28/08/2009 03:44
Report abuse
I am an upstanding member of staff and can see that it's all about making absurd amounts of profit for sometimes cheap and nasty products.
The management is somewhat a joke where no one is qualified in what they are meant to be.
Staff are abused in rather Victorian methods where the so called upper crust boardroom members think they are untouchable.
Sorry but Fortnums have truly lost the plot.
- James, Epsom uk, 30/03/2009 23:13
Report abuse
Over inflated prices for very ordinary goods is the reason for aspinalls down turn.
28 sherbert filled ufo's £4.50. Hello!
- Sinbad, Surrey uk, 30/03/2009 22:56
Report abuse
In spite of Ms Aspinall's assurances, many front of house workers (the shop floor) are in fact facing redundancies and the jobs for the "frock-coated doormen" no longer exist. This is the fourth wave of redundancies in an eight year period at Fortnum and Mason. Maybe if Fortnum’s stopped over hiring they would not be in this position now.
- The Scarlet Pimpernel (An Anonymous Front Of House Worker), New York, New york, 15/02/2009 23:51
Report abuse
Twice a year I fly to London from my home in the Middle East to visit family and to stock up on essentials from Fortnums, especially tea, marmalade and gentleman's relish. In particular I can recommend their extra strong "tough guy" marmalade made for Sir Nigel Playfair during the Boer War. Yes, it is expensive but its worth every penny. Then I visit Hatchards next door to collect any books that I'd ordered. To my mind the extremely high quality of both the goods and the service at both establishments makes this money well spent.
- Alistair Cunningham, Manama, Bahrain, 28/01/2009 10:36
Report abuse
Ah the good old admin department gets the job cuts. Is it me or whenever theres news of jobs cuts its the admin department who gets fired. There must be 5 million unemployed administrators at least out there now.
Well what are these people doing in the first place then? Sorry taxpayers for getting into this mess, we will shred jobs to save money in the admin department, signed Mr Banker.
- Dc, London, 28/01/2009 09:37
Report abuse
I wonder if Ms Aspinall regrets the money spent on Fortnum's refurbishment. A lot has been taken from this lovely old department store.But I suppose one could say the same about many a refurbishment seemingly just for the sake of doing something different?
- Peter Seekings-Foster, Mildenhall, Suffolk., 27/01/2009 19:37
Report abuse
Fortnums should have more BOGOF offers, and charge for their bags.
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex, 27/01/2009 19:37
Report abuse
If they were to cut the prices to a normal leval instead of an over inflated profit, then maybe more people would shop there
- Mick, New York, 27/01/2009 14:14
Report abuse
