Staff at Roches Stores in Wilton, Cork, last night received official confirmation that they were facing redundancies after a week of negotiations between the landlord at the site on the southside of the city and Marks and Spencer (M&S) broke down.
Despite attempted political intervention from Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin and MEP Simon Coveney, a last-gasp attempt to save the 172 jobs failed.
M&S previously agreed to take over the outlet and retain the Roches employees following the Irish chain's decision to sell its business.
However that agreement fell through when a dispute arose with the landlord, Joe O'Donovan, about the cost of the lease. The British supermarket chain announced at 6pm yesterday that it was no longer interested in the former Roches Stores outlet.
Among the dismayed employees were Jennifer Walsh and Con O'Flynn, who bought their first house together recently.
The pair, who gave a combined service of nearly 30 years to Roches Stores, are now facing an uncertain future.
They have put their wedding plans on hold and are now trying to figure out a way to pay their mortgage. Redundancy talks are due to begin on Monday.
Mr Martin said staff had experienced a "rollercoaster of emotion" over the last five days.
Meanwhile, traders at the Wilton Centre claim they have suffered a 70 per cent downturn in profit since the closure of Roches Stores as the site is attracting fewer customers without an anchor tenant.
One business owner said it looked as if he would have to let some of his workers go.