Despite recently opening a number of new stores across England, and apparently riding a lockdown-inspired bike boom in the UK, Evans Cycles is reportedly considering job cuts and a shift in working patterns for its staff.
A report in The Guardian notes that Evans is considering over 300 staff redundancies, alongside a shift to zero-hour contracts for remaining store staff.
Having been acquired by Sports Direct International (part of retail specialist Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group) in 2018, Evans Cycles, ‘the UK’s leading specialist bike shop’, has recently expanded with a number of new stores.
It most recently announced the opening of its new Cambridge store in eastern England. This followed hot-on-the-heels of new store openings in Newcastle, Leicester and Birmingham.
The Guardian cites a document sent out to Evans staff. This noted that the company would ‘employ about 475 staff in stores, down from 813 in the latest figures filed at Companies House.’ Remaining store staff will be switched from fixed-hour working arrangements to ‘casual worker agreements’, or zero-hour contracts.
The note to staff said ‘We cannot rely on old ways of running our business and we must adapt. These changes will look to address the cost of sales ratio in our stores and ensure that we are able to be more flexible with our cost base out of peak trading and during difficult trading periods.’
Further details can be found at The Guardian online.
