The increasing dominance of Britain’s supermarkets is being keenly felt in a picturesque Fife village after the owner of its only shop decided to throw in the towel.
At the heart of village life in Strathkinness, three miles from St Andrews, is the local shop. However, all that is set to change as owner Kevin Taylor finally calls it a day.
“Things have been a real struggle and neither myself nor my wife have been taking a wage from the shop for months,” he told The Courier. “We have been busting our guts, but it has just been going from bad to worse.”
The final nail in the coffin came when Kevin and his family took a Sunday morning trip to enjoy breakfast in a nearby supermarket.
“As we were eating we saw several local people buying their newspapers,” Kevin said. “It made us wonder why we had been getting up at the crack of dawn seven days a week if people were happy just to drive to a supermarket every day.”
Along with the shop, Kevin’s departure will also spell the end at least temporarily for the local post office.
“It is very sad for me,” he confessed. “There has been a shop in Strathkinness for as long as I can remember, and I have lived here all my life. We have had the shop for 13 years, but just feel we are at the stage where we cannot do any more.
“It might just have been possible to keep it going for another six months, but we would then be bankrupt and I just don’t want to go down that route.”
Despite the imminent closure, Kevin is happy to wish any successor all the best but warns it will not be easy.Income”If anybody wants to open a shop, I say good luck to them,” he said. “I have got an alternative job lined up, which is a relief, because I have not had a regular income for years now.”
Kevin and wife Susan have seen business decline dramatically over the last few years and, when roadworks closed Main Street in February, takings fell by an alarming 70%.
“There were days when we struggled to make £70 a day, which doesn’t even cover our electricity costs. We have no option but to shut.”
The Post Office has apologised for any inconvenience “temporary” closure may cause, but insisted it remains committed to a local service in Strathkinness.
Spokesman Brian Turnbull said, “Regrettably, following the resignation of the subpostmaster and the withdrawal of the premises for post office use, and despite our best efforts to maintain a post office counter service at this location, we have no other option but to temporarily close this branch on July 28.
“The provision of a post office service to our customers in the local community is of paramount importance to us. It is therefore important that any future service is sustainable for the new subpostmaster and for Post Office Ltd.
“We will continue to review solutions to provide a post office service in the area as soon as possible.”