A Nottingham shop which has been open for decades is to close on June 20. The shop owner who said it’s time to ‘call it a day’ has expressed their gratitude to customers.
The Natural Food Company, in Mansfield Road, specialises in vegetarian and vegan food products but due to many factors, the independent food shop has decided to close.
The small shop that has been run by Rachel Preston for the past 13 years has been open for over 50 years. With plants, teas, herbs and more, everything in the shop must now go and whatever is left over will be donated to food banks.
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Rachel who made the announcement of the closure official on social media on May 30, said: “It’s been pretty amazing working here for the past 13 years, it’s been recently because of coronavirus I don’t think the city has returned to what it was [pre-Covid] and I don’t think it ever will. People’s habits have changed and retail is online.”
Rachel continued: “This shop isn’t as niche as it was 13 years ago, vegan stuff is being sold everywhere now which is great but there’s so many other factors as to why we’re closing.”
Covid massively impacted The Natural Food Company as did Nottingham City Council raising the shop’s rent by 20% and some of the shop’s suppliers had closed down too. With electric bills rising too, the shop had many fridges that needed to be kept on to keep certain products chilled.
Rachel added: “It was just one thing after another.” Passers-by on Mansfield shared their thoughts about the shops closure.
Ian West, 55, who lives in the city centre and is now retired, said: “It’s never nice when you hear of shops closing, especially when they’ve been open for so long, it’s awful. I personally feel that we need more shops that sell healthy things because along Mansfield Road here, there are a lot of junk food places.” Ian added: “50 years is a very long time.”
The area of Mansfield Road leading to Victoria Centre is filled with other independent businesses such as the Afro-Caribbean Food Shop and the Cagla Off License.
Charlotte Granger, 33 said: “I’ve been here a couple of times and I bet many people rely on it for certain products.”
The retail assistant who lives in West Bridgford added: “There’s Holland and Barretts and places like that but here is a cheaper alternative and I’m sure many people appreciate that too.”
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