Harry Carpenter, 30, of no fixed address and Tim Marshall, 41, of Costead Manor Road, Brentwood, stole cigarettes from a Tesco Express in Warley Hill on Friday, 23 November last year.
During the incident, Carpenter threatened to assault a staff member with a meat cleaver if she did not assist in opening the safe.
The woman refused and the men fled in a van registered to Marshall.
Police later forced entry to Marshall’s address, where they found stolen property and arrested the two men.
DS Neale Parker, of Loughton CID, said: “Carpenter and Marshall entered the store shouting with one armed with a large meat cleaver.
“Despite the threat of violence, a worker bravely refused to help the criminals and they were unable to get the cash they wanted.
“They drove off in a vehicle registered to Marshall. It didn’t take us long to find them both and they now mark the New Year locked in a prison cell.”
Carpenter received six years and eight months for robbery and 12 months for threatening a person with a knife, to run concurrently, and Marshall received five years and four months for robbery and eight months concurrent for two counts of theft at Basildon Crown Court.