One of Gloucester's best- known city centre stores is to close following a shake-up by the UK's biggest non-food retailer.

Argos has confirmed it is shutting its branch in the city's Eastgate Street and creating a new digital store at Sainsbury's Gloucester Quays supermarket.

Today a spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "The new store will open in May and brings extra choice and convenience to customers. As part of the move Argos will be closing its Eastgate Street branch and transferring colleagues to the new store.

"It will offer thousands of popular products for immediate pickup. 20,000 products can also be ordered to collect in store within hours and 20,000 extra products can be ordered for home delivery.

"There will also be an eBay collection point so buyers can collect their Ebay purchases."

The move comes after Sainsbury's recently acquired Home Retail Group, which owns Argos and the group says it is part of its strategy to help its customers shop whenever and wherever they want.

The spokesman said: "The combination of Sainsbury's and Argos will enable customers to shop conveniently through different online, mobile and store channels. It will also give customers more choice across different product ranges, creating the UK's largest non-food retailer.

Neil Barber, manager at Sainsbury's Gloucester Quays said: "We are really thrilled to welcome Argos and its team to our store.

"The new shop is great news for customers, who are looking for easier, more convenient ways to shop. We're looking forward to offering them an increased range of products at great value, all under one roof."

Argos also has an outlet at St Oswalds Retail Park, Gloucester which Punchline understands is not affected by the changes.

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