Ballantynes cuts 40 staff

NZPA

Wednesday 20th July 2011

Christchurch's iconic department store Ballantynes plans to lay off about 40 staff after losing parts of its central city store in February 22's devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake.

Ballantynes managing director Mary Devine said the company had paid all its staff for the last five months but continuing to do so would be unsustainable.

Ballantynes lost 2000 square metres of store space in the central city in February earthquake and expected a reduction in foot traffic when their central city store reopened on October 29.

"For a company like Ballantynes, this is an incredibly hard step to take," Devine said.

"But having lost space with the demolition of Anderson Building and Stables as well as New Zealand Gifts in the Guthrey Centre and uncertainty over the Contemporary Lounge, we really had to look at our entire staff structure," she said.

Staff had been consulted throughout the restructuring process and staffing levels greater than 250 would be maintained in the company's City Mall shop.

"We have already had very good feedback from staff during this process including ideas such as job sharing.

It is only when this process is complete that we will know exactly the appropriate staff numbers," she said.

It expects to increase staff in its Timaru store and customer services department.

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