A DATE for the closure of the Woolworths store in St Albans city centre has been set. The St Peter s Street shop will shut its doors to customers on January 2 unless a buyer for the company is found. Woolworths Plc, which has 807 stores across the country

A DATE for the closure of the Woolworths store in St Albans city centre has been set.

The St Peter's Street shop will shut its doors to customers on January 2 unless a buyer for the company is found.

Woolworths Plc, which has 807 stores across the country, was taken over by joint administrators, Deloitte and Touche LLP, in November.

Despite negotiations for the sale of the retail business, which is currently offering knock-down discounts in store, no buyer has been found.

The company currently employs 22,000 permanent staff and 5,000 temporary and seasonal staff. The staff will be retained for a period following the store closures.

The administrators have revealed that the leases of more than 300 of the stores are under offer from a range of third parties but it is not known if the St Albans branch is one of them.

There has also been interest in the Woolworths brand name, along with the Ladybird and Chad Valley brands.

Neville Kahn, joint administrator said: "While negotiations for the sale of Woolworths' 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."

He added: "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.