Sadness at store closure (From Stroud News and Journal)

Sadness at store closure

A COMMUNITY store will close its doors for the last time on Saturday after falling sales and tough competition have forced the owners to shut up shop.

Paganhill Stores in Stroud's Stratford Road has, according to owner Ray Singh, become a victim of the supermarkets and convenience stores.

The writing was on the wall for the shop when Tesco opened down the road.

Then the One Stop Shop opened for business just across the road and its fate was sealed.

"The shop doesn't make enough money to keep it open," said Mr Singh. "It's hard these days for a small shop."

He said the general store had been trading for nearly 30 years but changing shopping habits had put it out of business.

Mr Singh took over the shop from a friend a couple of years ago by which time it was already in direct competition with Tesco and the One Stop Shop.

"We thought we'd try it to see what happened," he told the News & Journal. "But it didn't work out."