SuperValu is to close two of its stores in Carlow and Clonmel with the loss of up to 98 jobs from January. Ireland's largest grocery retailer said the SuperValu on Kennedy Avenue in Carlow and the Supervalu Marketplace in Clonmel would cease trading "due to difficult trading conditions over a sustained period".

The two stores will close on January 22nd as a result of challenging retail environment marked by increased competition and a drop in footfall, SuperValu said.

"We regret to confirm that we plan to close these SuperValu stores. It is not a decision we have taken lightly, but the stores have been loss making for almost a decade now and they do not have a sustainable future," said SuperValu managing director Martin Kelleher.

Consultation period

He thanked the staff for their work over the years and said SuperValu would enter a consultation period with the employees.

The Mandate trade union said in a statement that the affected workers were devastated by the news and that the loss of their jobs would result in a very difficult Christmas.

"These closures are down to the lack of investment and a continued lack of disposable income for workers and unemployed people in the local areas. The outcome, of course, will be that the whole region will suffer further as a result," said Bill Kelly, Mandate's divisional organiser for the Clonmel store.

“These jobs were comparatively good retail jobs that provided workers with decent work and secure incomes. Unfortunately there are very few alternatives at this moment in time, partly because the southeast of Ireland has become an unemployment black spot.”

Betty Dillon, Mandate's divisional organiser for the Carlow store, said the union had sought an urgent meeting with SuperValu to discuss redundancies and possible redeployment within the company.

Some 54 workers are employed in the Carlow store and 44 in Clonmel.

SuperValu has a 24.6 per cent share of the grocery market in Ireland, operating 221 stores.