Three Thomas Dux stores in Sydney to close

The tough medicine continues for Woolworths, this time of the gourmet kind with three of its upmarket Thomas Dux stores facing the axe in Sydney. In a letter sent to Thomas Dux suppliers, it warned a decision had been made to cease trading at the Lane Cove store at the end of February, Crows Nest by April 30, and Hornsby no later than November 30.

The Port Melbourne store will also close at the end of next month, adding to a casualty list that has already recorded the closure of a number of Thomas Dux stores, including the Surry Hills outlet. It's been a rough month at Woolworths, with its Masters chain also under the spotlight.

The letter to Thomas Dux suppliers pinpointed "a number of locations that are providing a poor trading and/or operating environment not viable for us to continue to operate successfully in".

Woolworths didn't respond to Good Food, but the letter outlined a platform of continuing to trade at remaining stores as well as "piloting a Thomas Dux range in selected Metro stores and providing our brand to our online customers". Those remaining stores will soon be slim pickings, but Sydney's Paddington and Mona Vale stores have survived the chop.

The Thomas Dux chain was rumoured to have been on the market last year with a reported price tag of between $10 million and $20 million.