Tesco has cancelled plans to build three new stores in Essex, amid a wave of shutdowns and cancellations nationwide.
Manningtree, Walton-on-the-Naze, and Butt Road, Colchester were all expected to have new Tesco stores, along with 46 other locations in the UK that will no longer go ahead as planned.
As well as the 49 cancelled openings, the company has also announced that it will be closing down 43 of its existing stores, after a fall in sales, revealing that like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks to January 3 fell by 2.9%.
Tesco has also said it is to close its final salary pension scheme and shut its main headquarters in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, in 2016, and move to Welwyn Garden City.
A restructuring of central overheads is expected to save £250 million a year.
However, the company has not yet announced which existing supermarkets will face the chop, and staff at individual stores have not been informed whether theirs will be one of the ill-fated locations to close.
