Woolworths is closing all 41 Big W Optical stores throughout Australia as part of a push to raise profitability and sustainability across its network, it says. The group announced it will also close about 30 Big W shops over the next three years and two distribution centres at the end of their leases.

Exiting the Big W Optical business will affect 175 staff, reported Insight, saying a company spokesperson told it: “As part of our strategic review, we are working toward building a stronger and more profitable Big W for the future and therefore we have made the decision to focus on categories that are core for our customers.”

The move is expected to cost approximately AU$370 million, the group said, also announcing the successful completion of the sale of its petrol business to EG Group, with proceeds from the sale to be returned to shareholders via a AU$1.7 billion off-market buy-back.

Brad Banducci, Woolworths Group CEO said: “As foreshadowed at our half year 2019 results, while the recovery in trading for BIG W is encouraging and there remains further opportunity for improvement, the speed of conversion to earnings improvement is taking longer than planned. We understand the impact that the store and DC closures will have on our team and will endeavour to provide affected team members with alternative employment options within the Woolworths Group where possible.”