Trader forced to close shop warns '˜Rasen is dying'

Family-owned Jacques Home Hardware in George Street has been in the town for 14 years - but last week started a closing down sale, with the store set to shut as soon as the majority of stock has gone.

Co-owner Robert Jacques said: “The town is dying, the footfall is falling all the time.

“You’ve got to think ‘do I want to be here with not very much to do?’ The answer is no.

“Car parking charges are about to be implemented - that’s going to affect the town even more.

“I don’t see Market Rasen has a future.

“You only have to look at the empty [shop] spaces.”

Mr Jacques said he was ‘sad’ to be closing but ‘relieved’ and ‘glad’ at the same time.

He added: “I was hoping it would last a little bit longer, but you can’t just keep burying your head in the sand.”

And Mr Jacques thinks new housing developments could be one of the factors to blame for the downturn in trade.

He said: “People seem to prefer bigger shopping centres than Market Rasen can offer.

“And there’s internet shopping. It’s just the way of the world.

“In a lot of ways I can understand why it’s happening. If you look over the last 14 years - it was a much older population.

“All these houses that have been built, young people have moved into them - a lot of them probably work out of town and do their shopping in their lunch hour or on the way home from work.”

Mr Jacques said he thinks the store will close within the next three months - depending on how well the sale of stock goes.

Last autumn the town’s Market Place suffered a blow after after Jacques Home Hardware relocated to the smaller unit in George Street, blaming a drop in trade.

Speaking last year, Mr Jacques said: “Hopefully these changes will enable us to still provide a service to the people of Market Rasen and surrounding 
areas.”

What do you think the future holds for Market Rasen?

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