Staff at department store Fenwick are set to be made redundant as the store faces a turbulant time.

A total of 25 employees at the Canterbury branch are confirmed to be losing their jobs as part of nationwide cuts and a company reshuffle.

The “difficult decision” to shed staff numbers comes just weeks after long-standing city centre fixture Nasons closed its doors for the final time, with the loss of 50 jobs.

A sign of the times for department stores, Fenwick has suffered from a slump in annual profits with gross sales dropping by 3.6%.

As there are currently 189 employees working at Canterbury’s four-storey shop, 13% of the workforce will be made redundant.

Four of the redundancies are compulsory, while the rest will be voluntary.

A spokesman for the chain said: “Our annual results reflect the challenging market conditions all department store groups are facing, including increased competition from online retail, declining footfall on the high street, and increasingly competitive price discounting - factors that have been exacerbated by a rise in the cost of living that has led to a fall in consumers’ disposable income.”

Fenwick, which has nine stores across the country, was founded in Newcastle in 1882.

The Canterbury branch opened in 2003 after Ricemans was demolished, and remains the flagship of the Whitefriars redevelopment.

The news that bosses have decided to slash the firm’s workforce by 408 nationwide follows on from an announcement in April that the firm will undergo a restructure.

The spokesman added: “The transformation programme is progressing to plan and we believe it will put Fenwick on a strong footing for future growth.

“As part of our programme we are investing in IT and other back office systems, in our flagship Newcastle store and in a new e-commerce offer, which will go live in early 2019.

“We have also restructured parts of the business and have made the difficult to decision to cut staff numbers across the business.

“The fact that sales fell only slightly last year demonstrates the strength of our local brand, and our product and customer service offer.”