A Gloucester shoe shop is to close after trading for over 60 years in the City Centre.
AJ Meeks in Northgate Street has announced a closing down sale and will shut its doors for good in April.
In a statement, the shoe shop owner said: “We have been struggling with rapidly rising costs and reduced footfall since the pandemic and the shop has not been covering its costs. I have held off hoping things would improve, but the recent budget is a disaster for small businesses employing lots of part time staff like ours.
“Our national insurance on one shop and our business rates are increasing by £5000 a year each from April and this is unsustainable. Bigger retailers are complaining about the Increase but they have the option of putting in more self checkouts and increasing their prices a little. Amazon can put a few pence on the price of each product.”
Every customer making a purchase will recieve £10 gift voucher to use on its website or in shops in South Wales which remain open.