A union representing retail employees says plans to close and sell-off Dick Smith stores is unsettling for staff, who don't know if they'll be out of a job.

A suggestion that Progressive Enterprises is winning the supermarket wars.

Its competitor Foodstuffs, will make more than 100 employees from their lower North Island bases redundant resulting in cost savings of more than $4 million.

National Distribution Union general secretary Robert Reid says Progressive isn't having the same problems post the recession.