STORE chain Uptons is closing its Middlesbrough store with the loss of around 34 jobs.

Four other stores, including two branches at Bishop Auckland and one each in Peterlee and Chester-le-Street are set to close with the loss of another 18 jobs.

Hilco, which bought the Upton's stores from London head hunting agency Garner International for just £1 in September, said it hoped to re-deploy a lot of the staff to remaining stores in Stockton, Hartlepool, Redcar and Scunthorpe.

A statement read: "Hilco acquired Uptons with the hope of maximising the number of jobs which can be maintained within the business and so the majority of the employees will be retained."

Hilco is closing the stores and cutting "non-essential overheads" in a bid to save £1m a year.

The Upton stores grew out of a grocery business in South Bank, Teesside, started in 1869 by Edward Upton.

Meanwhile, the Merchant Retail Group, owners of the Perfume Shop brand, Joplings and Jersey-based A de Gruchy, revealed pre-tax profits had risen by 52 per cent to £1.03m in the six months ended September 30.

The Joplings business, including stores in Sunderland and Hexham, performed well.

In particular the Sunderland store reacted well to the opening of the new Debenhams department store in the city.

Philip Newton, chief executive of the group, said: "Our Sunderland store has matched up to the increased competition generated within the city by the opening of The Bridges II, the new town centre scheme anchored by Debenhams.

"We have continued to trade robustly and are showing strong like for like growth against last year's figures since Debenhams opened in September."

An important new part of the Joplings business has been the introduction of an in-house chargecard, which has so far attracted 80,000 card holders