A retail giant has confirmed it is set to close one of its Kent stores.

Argos in the Longfield Retail Park, Tunbridge Wells will close its doors later this year, as the business moves towards "improving customer availability" and cutting costs.

The move is part of the company merging its stores into Sainsbury's stores, which bought the business in 2016 as part of a £1.4 billion take over, and relocate staff to other parts of the business.

The plan is to reduce the number of standalone Argos stores, whilst opening more collection points in the supermarket's branches.

The pandemic has been a key driver in this change as more consumers have switched to online orders as opposed to going in-store.

Results from a Sainsbury's report of the 52-week year which ended on March 6, 2021 revealed Argos's digital sales grew 68% in the year, with 90% of sales starting online.

The company has not confirmed when the store will finally close its doors but it is expected to be this year, a spokesman said.

The company says its strength in "digital and our leading fast track delivery" helped the business adapt quickly to the way people shopped during the pandemic.

As it stands Argos has closed 170 standalone stores as well as six Argos stores in Homebase stores, as part of its plan to reduce the number to around 100 over the next three years.

This is in a bid to reduce the company's operating costs by £105 million by March 2024, with the overall plan to reduce to 430 to 460 Argos stores in Sainsbury’s and reach 450 to 500 collection points by March 2024.

In March 2021, Argos had 737 stores, of which 336 are within Sainsbury’s stores with a further 306 collection points.

An Argos spokesman said: “Our Argos Tunbridge Wells Longfield store will close later this year and colleagues are being offered opportunities to redeploy to alternative roles within Sainsbury’s.

"Customers can continue to shop with us at our nearby stores, including our Argos stores within Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge Sainsbury’s."