Petition to save a Shropshire Morrisons store tops 600 names

Mother-of-three Ruth Hallybone, set up the campaign to save the supermarket in Donnington, Telford, after the firm announced earlier this month it was one of 10 "unprofitable" stores earmarked for closure.

The petition, which can be signed in store and online at change.org (search Morrisons Donnington), has now attracted more than 600 signatures. A Facebook group has also been set up.

Ms Hallybone, 41, said: "We are getting a good reaction to the petition which now has 600 signatures plus nearly a hundred more online. The people signing it are saying 'save the store, we love the store, we do not want it to close'.

"We are hearing from people from Donnington, St George's, Oakengates, people who use it daily and do not want to be without it. We had one elderly lady who has a member of staff who does personal shopping for her once a week and it is ever so useful for her.

"I think a lot of people support it because it is not a large superstore. People are in there every day and the staff are so friendly as well. Half of the experience is the staff.

"It is not a convenience store but it is convenient for everyone that uses it. It is convenient to all the mums who have said it would be a shame to see it go and a lot of elderly people nearby in Donnington, it is local to them.

"If it was closed there is an Aldi, or Asda or Coop. People would be really sorry to see it go, we use it everyday it is really handy for most.

"It is fingers crossed at the moment that bosses will see that the store is wanted in our area and they could turn it round and find a way to keep it open."

Ms Hallybone who has a seven-year-old son at Donnington Wood Junior School and two other grown-up children said she used the store everyday which was in a perfect place after dropping her son off at school.

As well as the store in Donnington, other Midlands stores that will be affected include West Bromwich and Rugby - if the closure of the unprofitable stores identified goes ahead, up to 400 jobs could be lost across Britain.

A Morrisons spokesman said: "We have looked extremely carefully at whether these stores can be turned around but unfortunately we cannot see a way of making them viable. We are therefore proposing their closure.

"We are consulting with colleagues and unions to reduce the risk of redundancies and we are looking at ways of redeploying colleagues around our business."

The Donnington store stands on the site of the former Champion Jockey pub.

That was demolished to make way for a Netto, but that the branch later closed down and reopened as a Morrisons supermarket as part of a deal that saw the chain take over 16 branches of the discount store.

As part of that deal staff members were kept on and started working at the new store when it opened in May 2011.

To sign the petition visit www.change.org/p/morrisons-stores-stop-the-closure-of-the-donnington-store