Sainsbury's Pitsea store is to close, a move being blamed on fierce competition from two major supermarket rivals.

The firm admits its profits have slumped because of the pressure from nearby giant Tesco Extra and discount store Lidl.

A dramatic fall in customer numbers over the last three years forced the Northlands Pavement supermarket to reveal on Friday it will wind up business on May 1.

Bosses have spent much of the past few months trying to come up with ideas on how to attract more visitors to the 23-year-old store.

Spokeswoman Samantha Robb said: "The impact of other stores in the area means we feel we can no longer compete with them.

"It did prompt us to see what could be amended to save trade. We evaluated all options and considered a number of different formats for the branch, such as making it a convenience or market town store. We looked at whether any of these would be suitable in making a success of the store, but they were not."

The firm will be laying on a temporary bus service to take shoppers to its East Mayne branch.

The Pitsea branch's 140 staff were told the news on Friday. Workers will be given the option of taking voluntary redundancy or transferring to other Sainsbury's, Savacentre or Homebase stores in the area.

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