THE Dixons group has announced the closure of its town centre electrical store in Blackburn, with the loss of 15 jobs.

The store, in Cobden Court, is one of 106 which Dixons is shutting as part of a national shake-up of its business which will cost the company £48million. The Burnley Dixons is not affected.

Chief executive John Clare said the performance of the Dixons' stores had been "disappointing".

And he confirmed that around a third of its UK outlets would be closed over the next three months.

Sir Bill Connor, General Secretary of the shopworkers' union USDAW, said they would be having talks with senior management as soon as possible.

He said: "There will be considerable confusion among workers at Dixons, with the company announcing store closures and job losses on the back of reporting growth in sales.

"Our members at Dixons deserve to get a full explanation for the reasons behind this decision. USDAW officials are available to offer advice and guidance to all our members at Dixons during this period of uncertainty."

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Mr Clare said the Dixons group -- which also includes Currys, PC World and The Link -- had enjoyed a rise in sales over the past year.

However, he said the Dixons shops had under-performed.

He said: "Following a prolonged period of disappointing trading in our smaller Dixons stores, we have decided to close operations in 106 locations.

"We expect to redeploy a significant number of affected employees elsewhere in the group."

The Blackburn store declined to comment on the news.