MORE retail jobs face the axe with the closure of another two Bolton town centre shops.

Five staff at The Body Shop and seven workers at Topman, both in the Market Place Shopping Centre, face relocation or redundancy when the outlets close in March.

Staff at the two sites were unable to comment yesterday but a Body Shop spokesman said: “The Bolton shop will close on March 2 as it is no longer financially viable and we are refurbishing three other Manchester city centre and Trafford Centre stores into Body Shop Bou-tiques.

“We will try to relocate staff to other stores if possible and will look after them.”

It is understood that Topman is trying to relocate its staff too, although no official comment was available as The Bolton News went to press last night.

Shop staff confirmed it was to close but said they could not comment.

Topman, based on the Market Place’s upper floor, has seven staff and is part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins.

The mall’s former Topshop branch was closed last year, as was the Burton shop in Deansgate, which had been there for 75 years and shared premises with Dorothy Perkins at the time of closure.

Some of the shops’ 20 staff faced redundancy or left while others went to branches in Bury, Wigan or the Trafford Centre.

Dorothy Perkins opened an outlet in the refurbished BHS store in Crompton Place.

Market Place manager Rod Neasham said he wanted to wait for official confirmation before commenting.

Yesterday’s developments followed news that three Blockbuster DVD rental shops are to close in Chorley Old Road, Horwich and Westhoughton.

Jessops closed its Bolton town centre photography shop two weeks ago while HMV went into administration last week. Shop bosses blamed online shopping, changing technology and the recession.

However, HMV administrators yesterday said they remained hopeful that the chain would stay in business.

They also confirmed that gift cards can now be redeemed in stores and proceeds from the sale of charity releases including the recent Hillsborough Justice Collective single would be paid in full as soon as possible.