Kwik Save is to close more than a third of its stores immediately as it battles to secure its future.
The 79 stores will all be shut down by today [Wednesday], while the chain’s remaining 147 outlets will remain open. Kwik Save's store network peaked at more than 1,000 in the early 1990s.
Shop worker union Usdaw claims "hundreds" of jobs will be lost. Kwik Save said it is "with regret" that it has made "this difficult decision".
TNS figures for the 12 weeks to April 22 showed Kwik Save's share of supermarket spending had dived from 1.2 per cent in 2006 to just 0.2 per cent a year later.
“The Kwik Save management team has had to announce these cutbacks to secure the future of the business," a statement added.
Kwik Save was part of the Somerfield supermarket group, but last year Somerfield's owners sold off the loss-making brand and most of its stores to new company BTTF and rebranded the 100 Kwik Save sites that it kept.
