By next February, the Superquinn brand will be no more. The chain's 24 shops are due to be rebranded as SuperValu by the beginning of next year.

According to the Irish Times, the move was made by Musgraves today to merge two of the biggest players in Irish retail.

“Combining our SuperValu and Superquinn stores creates an unrivalled Irish retail brand, enabling shoppers to access SuperValu’s offer nationally, while incorporating the best of Superquinn,” Chris Martin, Musgrave chief executive, said.

“We understand that some customers will be sad to see the Superquinn name change," he continued.

As a result of the reorganisation, 102 staff from the Superquinn support office in Lucan are due to be made redundant. However, the merger will not affect the 2,500 staff which currently work for the Superquinn stores.

However, Musgraves were eager to tell customers that the merger would not affect some of the products in the Superquinn range either: “Importantly, consumers will continue to enjoy all that they love from Superquinn’s heritage including its in-store ambience, great range, food experts and quality products such as the famous Superquinn sausage,” Mr Martin said.

This is the second bad blow to Irish retail today, M&S have already announced that they will be closing four of their stores here this month.