Shoppers pay final trip to Foss Bank Sainsbury’s in York

The doors will close for the last time at Sainsbury’s in Foss Bank at 6pm today (January 11).

Shelves were already empty when The Press visited at 12.30pm.

“I will miss it,” said Mary Parke.

The Haxby Road resident remembers when the supermarket first opened in 1984.

“I couldn’t believe it – it was the first of its kind,” she recalled.

Ms Parke said she shopped at individual stores before the Sainsbury’s opened but everything was under one roof at the supermarket.

Sainsbury’s in Foss Bank which closed on Saturday (January 11) (Image: Dylan Connell) She said she would now shop online and at the Sainsbury’s in Monk’s Cross.

Sue Cocker was “upset and shocked” when she found out the Sainsbury’s would be closing.

“I was upset for the staff because they have been lovely,” the New Earswick resident said.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said the supermarket giant is “committed to doing everything we can” to support staff, which “has included offering opportunities for our colleagues to redeploy to alternative roles within Sainsbury’s”.

A sign at Sainsbury’s in Foss Bank about the closure on Saturday (January 11) (Image: Dylan Connell) The closure of Sainsbury’s followed a decision by the site’s landlords to redevelop the area into one larger development.

This will be a mixture of student accommodation, ‘co-living accommodation’ and retail space.

As The Press reported, more than 1,330 people signed an online petition to ‘Save Foss Bank Sainsbury’s’, which described the landlords’ decision as a “huge loss of a community asset to people in the area, and the potential loss of crucial employment in a thriving business”.

Supermarket was ‘important part of the local community for decades’, says ward councillor

Guildhall ward councillor Rachel Melly said the supermarket has been an “important part of the local community for decades”.

But the building now risks sitting empty “potentially for years, with no productive use”, Cllr Melly said.

She added that it is “too late” to stop the Sainsbury’s from closing but the ward councillors are “lobbying the landowner to include a large supermarket on the site as part of any redevelopment, with a full range rather than just a convenience store”.

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A resident of County House, who did not want to be named, praised a consultation carried out by those developing the Sainsbury’s site.

She said representatives from the developers spoke to residents at County House, next to the Sainsbury’s, “on three separate occasions” and took their opinions on board.

“There is nothing we can do about it; we all need to make the best of it,” she said.

But other shoppers were more critical of the plans.

Neil Cox who criticised the plans for the Sainsbury’s site (Image: Dylan Connell) “There’s enough student accommodation [in York],” said Neil Cox.

The 64-year-old, from Clifton, recognised that students need somewhere to live but felt the priority should be building “proper housing for people who live here”.

He added that York residents are being “forced out” of the city due to high property prices.