Major Scottish newsagent chain RS McColl has put branches across Perth, Fife and Angus on the market.
The shops are being sold as going concerns and the firm has insisted that jobs will not be at risk.
RS McColl, which currently runs four branches in the Fair City, has confirmed two of the stores are up for sale.
It is offloading its units on Rannoch Road and the High Street. The move will leave just the Poplar Crescent store in Oakbank and the bus station retailer remain open in Perth.
The firm’s branches at the Abbeygate Centre in Arbroath, Regents Way in Dalgety Bay and the Broom Shopping Centre branch in Leven are also for sale.
Bosses said the doomed branches were not profitable enough for it to continue but promised employees would be given jobs by the new owners.
A McColl’s spokesperson said it had taken the “difficult decision” to market the branches for sale after exploring a number of options.
“We will continue to trade on these sites until the sale is complete,” the spokesperson said.
“Once sold our colleagues will continue to work at the premises for the new owners.
“We will continue to support affected colleagues throughout this process.”
The Perth stores each took more than £500,000 through their tills last year.
The company, which was founded in Glasgow, runs around 1,550 paper shops across the UK.
Perth City Centre Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Barrett has urged the shop’s board to stick to their promises of job security.
He said: “I hope that McColl’s assurance to their staff that their jobs will be secure under new owners can be relied on but that seems like a difficult promise to keep.
“McColl’s have been focusing on larger convenience stores with alcohol sales in an attempt to turn round a situation where, nationally, profits have been all but wiped out for this year.
“Both the High Street and Rannoch Road shops have small footprints with competitors operating larger convenience stores very close by.”
He said finding someone to take on the stores will not be an easy feat and blamed he impact of Brexit.
“The worst retail figures in history were only just reported by the British Retail Consortium for September.
“Finding a buyer to take on the stores in the current climate may be very difficult,” he said.
In August McColl’s blamed disappointing summer weather for a quarterly sales drop of 3.6%.
rogardiner@thecourier.co.uk