John Lewis is permanently closing eight of its 50 department stores, including big outlets in Birmingham and Watford, with the likely loss of 1,300 jobs.

All four of the group’s smaller At Home stores, in Croydon, Newbury, Swindon and Tamworth, are to close, as well as two outlets in travel hubs at Heathrow and St Pancras station in London.

John Lewis said the eight shops were already “financially challenged” before the coronavirus crisis and the pandemic had accelerated the switch from shopping in-store to online. “Before the virus struck, 40% of John Lewis sales were online. This could now be closer to 60% to 70% of total sales this year and next,” the company said in a statement.

The job losses come after the announcement of nearly 9,000 high street job cuts last week, after a swathe of redundancies at retailers ranging from Harrods to the Topshop owner Arcadia group and SSP, the company behind hundreds of railway and airport eateries. A further 2,000 are at risk at Poundstretcher, which has said it could close half its estate if landlords do not agree to rent cuts.

Department stores have faced particular difficulties in recent years as their large sites with long leases have been tricky to adapt to changing shopping habits.

Profits at John Lewis fell 65% in the year to January and the group has said it is unlikely to pay any annual bonus for the year ahead as it tries to cut costs.

John Lewis’s rivals Debenhams, House of Fraser and Beales have all gone into administration. Beales has closed down completely and Debenhams and House of Fraser have shut numerous stores. House of Fraser’s Grimsby store closed this week and its outlet in Dundrum, near Dublin, is expected to close permanently later this month.

Sharon White, the chairman of the department stores’ parent group the John Lewis Partnership, which is owned by its staff, known as partners, said: “Closing a shop is always incredibly difficult and today’s announcement will come as very sad news to customers and partners.

“However, we believe closures are necessary to help us secure the sustainability of the partnership and continue to meet the needs of our customers, however and wherever they want to shop. Redundancies are always an absolute last resort and we will do everything we can to keep as many partners as possible within our business.

“There are many reasons to be optimistic about the partnership’s future. Waitrose and John Lewis are two of the UK’s most loved and trusted brands and we have adapted to the challenges of the pandemic by responding to the new needs of customers. We will soon announce the output of our strategic review which will ensure our brands stay relevant for future generations of customers.”

The company said it would seek to find alternative jobs for those who had been working in the permanently closed stores, including at nearby outlets of its sister chain, Waitrose. It will also contribute up to £3,000 towards retraining via a recognised qualification or course for up to two years for any partner with two years’ service or more.

On Thursday, John Lewis also confirmed that nine shops that had closed because of the coronavirus lockdown would reopen on 30 July. They are: Aberdeen, Ashford, Brent Cross, Chichester, Oxford, Peterborough, Reading, Sheffield and White City Westfield. Leicester will also reopen when the local lockdown is lifted, taking the number of reopened John Lewis shops to 42.