A BELOVED sweet shop has been forced to close its doors for good, leaving local residents devastated.
Small’s Sweet Shop which opened 66 years ago on Castle Street in Forfar, Angus, announced earlier this week that it will soon be launching a closing down sale.
Until now Emma who owns the shop has had success in selling a variety of sweet treats.
Unfortunately, the store which has been run by three generations of Emma’s family will be forced to close permanently in the coming weeks.
The owners reluctantly took to Facebook after “much thought and deliberation” to let their customers know that from tomorrow the closing down sale will begin.
It seems likely that the store will officially shut in the coming months depending on the level of support they receive in selling their final stock.
Many gutted customers who seem to be on a first-name basis with Emma replied to the post to express their condolences for a store that was once at the heart of the local community.
One said: “So sorry to hear this Emma, hubby and I will miss our chats when we pop in on a Saturday for our rock buns and sweet treats.
“Very best wishes for the future.”
Another put: “The best ever chocolates, the loveliest people.
“So very sorry to see you go, wishing you the very best for the future.”
Someone else replied: “Aww sorry to hear this Emma… this must’ve been such a hard decision… end of an era.
“Those chocolate were the best, wishing you and your family all the best xxx.”
A fourth put: “No better millionaires shortbread than Mrs Small’s back in the day.
“How lovely that it’s been kept going for so long. Loved going in and buying sports mixture, horehound rock, cola cubes, or blackcurrant and liquorice sweeties after school back in the late 70’s.
“School memories. Wishing you all the very best x.”
Another commented: “So sorry to read this Emma but you need to put yourselves first. Smalls is actually younger than me and I mind my Mum working there with your Granny – best tablet ever!
“All the very best to you all for whatever you do next xxx.”
The post has also received nearly 300 reactions and around 50 shares.
It comes as a bargain supermarket announced one its branches will be closing for good.
From October 5, staff at the Farmfoods shop in Sutton will face redundancy.
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
