Efforts to persuade Bunnings to keep seven of its stores open, have fallen on deaf ears

Three are in the South Island ... the Ashburton warehouse, the trade centre in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby, and the store in Rangiora.

The others are the trade centre in Hastings, and stores in Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Putaruru.

All up 145 jobs will go.

Of that total, about 20 will come from the Rangiora closure.

Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon says they're trying to remain upbeat as there are other building outlet options, bit it's still disappointing.

He says it's a shame the managers made their decision to close, but he was assured by them they were looking to redeploy staff.