EE confirms 78 retail store closures

As many as 78 of EE’s ‘local’ retail stores will close across the UK as the company attempts to make massive savings in 2013.

'Following the successful launch of EE, and the rebranding of former Orange and T-Mobile stores last year, we are determined to maintain momentum, and continue to drive growth.'

'Consequently we have reviewed our retail estate to improve the service our customers are receiving on the high street,' an EE spokesperson told Know Your Mobile. 

In a week that’s seen both HMV and Blockbuster go into administration, the closure of 78 EE retail stores is another massive blow for the UK’s highstreet.

‘As part of this, where we have two EE stores in very close proximity to each other – in some places they are just a door away – we have decided to consolidate. This makes commercial sense and will also help us manage the high levels of demand in our stores and improve the customer experience.'

'All front line staff will be moving to the other store which will boost service levels significantly. A store can only have one manager, so we will look to redeploy the small number of affected managers where possible,’ said EE.

It’s unclear how many jobs will be affected at present, although EE has been playing down the news claiming that minimal jobs will be lost as those affected will simply by relocated.

EE did not say what it intends to do with affected workers that cannot move, although it did confirm that no front line staff would lose their jobs.

EE is currently the only network in the UK offering a 4G service.

O2, Vodafone, and Three will bid in Ofcom’s LTE spectrum auction next week in order to secure their own bands. Competing 4G services from the UK's three other networks are expected to launch in Q3 2013.

Know Your Mobile has reached out to EE for more details and will update the story once we know more, so stay tuned to our Twitter, Google+, and Facebook feeds.