MORE than 200 staff are anxiously awaiting news on a potential buyer after their supermarkets were put up for sale.

Five East Lancashire Kwik Save stores are included in 350 up for sale nationwide.

Union are meeting with management at Somerfield, which bought the Kwik Save group chain last year but has decided to sell many of the stores because of poor trading performance across the chain.

"Staff will be shocked and disappointed by the news but we want to ensure that other big retailers come in for the stores and offer job security to those staff,." sad Pauline Foulkes of shopworkers' union.

"We will do everything we can to maximise job security and minimise potential job losses."

Somerfield bosses have said they are confident they will find buyers for the Kwik Save stores.

Those affected by the sell-off include Bolton Road, Blackburn; Bolton Street, Chorley; Brook Street and Goitside, Nelson and Towngate in Leyland.

Other Kwik Save stores in East Lancashire in Accrington, Burnley, Clitheroe, Colne, Padiham and Haslingden have been or are to be converted to Somerfield stores

Staff at the 'up for sale' stores were told about the news yesterday.

Mick Tomkins, manager of the Goitside store which employs around 50 people, said: "We were told about it this morning and we passed the news on to staff.

"There have been rumours going around for some weeks and the company has issued profit warnings so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"We're not sure at the moment what's going to happen.

"In the next few days the store managers will get a briefing which will give further details on the plans.

"Until then we're a bit in the dark. It's a matter of wait and see.

"I don't think they would have made this kind of announcement if they didn't have a buyer in mind."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.