A STORE which has nestled in the centre of Abergavenny for almost 70 years will close this Saturday.

The Joint Administrators to Woolworth's Plc have confirmed that the 807 Woolworth's stores will close by January 5 2009, unless a buyer for the business can be found. The stores will be closed in tranches of 200, with the first tranche set to close to the public on 27 December, and thereafter on 30 December, January 2 with the final stores closing to the public on January 5 2009.

Manager Mark Jones has worked in the store since February, "I just want to thank all the staff for their dedication and hard work. They have been outstanding over the last couple of months. I would also like to thank our loyal customers who have helped us a lot. They have kept supporting us throughout the years right up until these last couple of weeks," he said.

Woolworth's currently employs 22,000 permanent members of staff and 5,000 temporary and seasonal staff. The staff will be retained for a period following the store closures. The distribution centres supporting the stores are likely to close before the end of December. The Administrators are working closely with the Redundancy Payments Office and Job Centre Plus to provide support for all staff, which will include a fast track process for paying redundancy entitlements.

Administrators revealed that over 300 of the stores are under offer from a range of third parties, and that there is considerable interest in the other 500 stores. They have also received interest in and offers for the Woolworth's brand name, and the Ladybird and Chad Valley brands.

Neville Kahn, Joint Administrator said, "Whilst negotiations for the sale of Woolworth's' retail arm remain ongoing, and we continue to speak to new interested parties, regrettably we have had to begin a store closure programme.  We are extremely grateful to the staff and management for their support throughout this difficult time.

"We are confident that we will sell the leases of the 300 stores currently under offer and are hopeful that our ongoing discussions with other parties will also prove successful."

Speculation that Marks and Spencer could be interested in the site was stopped by a spokeswoman who said there was no plans for the store to come to Abergavenny, "At this present time."