Holiday firm Thomas Cook today announced it was planning to close eight stores in Leicestershire.
The branches, in Anstey, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, Loughborough, Lutterworth, Market Harborough, Shepshed and Whetstone, employ a total of 33 staff.
It comes after the group yesterday revealed it was looking to axe 2,500 jobs and close 195 stores nationally.
The company, founded in Leicester in 1841, merged with Co-operative Group and Midlands Co-operative Society's travel businesses in 2010. It has 28 branches in Leicestershire.
It said 119 Co-op stores and 76 Thomas Cook sites would shut under the proposals. The group has begun a 90-day consultation with affected staff.
The group, which currently employs 15,500 people and operates 1,069 branches in the UK, said the job cuts would include administrative and managerial roles at its head office in Peterborough.
Bosses said the move was part of a three-year plan to turn around the business, which in the past 18 months has been hit hard by the recession, changing consumer habits and the political unrest in North Africa.
Thomas Cook previously closed 200 branches in 2011 after suffering heavy financial losses which led to the resignation of long-standing chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa. He was replaced by Harriet Green.
The business was founded in 1841 by package holiday pioneer Thomas Cook, when he organised a train journey from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a temperance meeting.
The Leicestershire stores which have been earmarked for closure are: Midlands Co-op Travel, Anstey; Co-op Travel, Beaumont Leys; Midlands Co-op, Queens Road, Leicester; Thomas Cook, Market Harborough; Co-op Travel, Market Street, Loughborough; Midlands Co-op Travel, Lutterworth; Midlands Co-op Travel, Shepshed; Midlands Co-op Travel, Whetstone.
