Administrators at Woolworths are due to give a statement on its future later, amid speculation its stores are to be closed by early next year.
Administrators at Woolworths say that all 807 stores will close by January 5.
Newspaper reports said some staff had been told that closures across its 813 stores would begin on 27 December.
The first stores will close on December 27 stores and all 27,000 permanent and temporary staff will lose their jobs.
And a shop worker, who declined to be named, said he received an email saying all stores would close by 4 January.
Neville Kahn said the administrators were still in discussions with a number of parties over Woolworths' retail and wholesale business.
Woolworths employs about 30,000 staff and has been in business for almost a century.
He said 300 stores were under offer from a range food, clothes and value retailers, who would take over the sites for their own business.
Failed talks
The chain was forced to call in administrators three weeks ago, amid mounting debts and losses.
Last week bargain hunters began flocking to branches of Woolworths on the first day of a store closure sale at all its outlets across the country.
It was forced to call in administrators three weeks ago, as debts and losses climbed and the High Street climate worsened.
Talks over the sale of the leaseholds of individual stores are continuing are continuing, with Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, the Co-op and discount chain Poundland thought to be interested in picking up some of the retailer's prime sites.
Administrators Deloitte have held talks to sell the business as a going concern to potential buyers including former Woolworths chief executive Sir Geoff Mulcahy and Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis.
But efforts to sell the brand so far have not been successful.
Last week its distribution arm, Entertainment UK, made 700 staff redundant after failing to find a buyer for the business.
The company delivered up to 30% of music CDs in the UK, as well as film and TV DVDs.
