Sainsbury's set to close nine stores but locations remain up in the air

Sainsbury's is set to shut nine more Argos stores as it issues a major update. The supermarket chain, which owns Argos, has already shut dozens of Argos branches - but it has now revealed it will close nine more stores this financial year.

Sainsbury’s has not published the locations of the branches that will be shutting. A spokesperson for Argos said: "The transformation of our Argos store and distribution network has been progressing at pace for several years now, improving availability, convenience and service for customers.

"As part of this, we are continuing to open new Argos stores and collection points in many of our Sainsbury’s supermarkets, enabling customers to purchase thousands of technology, home and toy products from Argos while picking up their groceries."

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It comes as food sales at Sainsbury’s have been boosted by a return to the office and fewer people dining out in restaurants, as the retailer warned of possible price rises as a result of having to pay £140m more next year in national insurance contributions [NICs].

The supermarket chain’s pre-tax profits were £356m for the six months to mid-September, up 4.7% on the same period last year, driven by a 5% increase in sales in its grocery business. However, its chief executive, Simon Roberts, said prices were likely to increase after the rise in NICs in last week’s budget.

Roberts said: “There is a big return to the big weekly shop, and we’re winning those big weekly shops just at a time that more and more people are going back to the office more days a week and going back to that weekly shop.”

“Another key trend we’re seeing is customers continuing to choose to eat more at home, as eating out has become more expensive, and they’re recognising more and more the restaurant quality of our Taste the Difference ranges,” Roberts said.