Kwik Save closes 22 more stores

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Supermarket chain Kwik Save is to close another 22 stores, including Dunstable, Bristol, Wakefield and Boston.

It was a "devastating and deeply distressing blow" to workers who have struggled to keep them going, union leaders said.

The company announced last month it was closing 79 stores but said this week that 20 of those would re-open.

Kwik Save is facing a court hearing in Leeds on Friday which could determine the fate of the company.

Loss-making

It has been reported that Irish entrepreneur Brendon Murtagh is seeking to put together a rescue deal.

The group has now closed a third of its stores across the UK, leading to up to 700 job losses.

The ailing chain will be left with just 145 outlets after the latest closures - a far cry from the mid-1990s when it had more than 1,000 shops worth more than £1bn.

Kwik Save used to be 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.

Analysts say that Kwik Save had failed to keep up with the competition as big retailers moved into the convenience shopping market.

Do you work at a Kwik Save branch that is closing? How and when were you told about the closures? What do you feel about how the company has acted?

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