End of the line as store shuts
FELIXSTOWE: Decades of shopping came to an end on Saturday when the town’s former Co-op homestore shut its doors for the last time.
Shoppers searching for a last-minute bargain went through the doors – marking its closure with a real sense of disappointment.
Vergo, which bought the stores from the East of England Co-op last year, went into administration earlier this spring and so far attempts to find new owners for its stores in the region have failed.
Fay White, from Trimley St Martin, visited the store with her daughter Freya – and feared its loss would leave the town without a general household goods store.
She said: “We lost Woolworths 18 months ago and now we’re losing this. There is now going to be nowhere here to get the kind of things you could get here.
“I’ve lived in the Felixstowe area all my life. I haven’t come in here all that often – but it’s always been there when you need it.”
Audrey Cole moved to Plymouth Road in Felixstowe 12 years ago and said she would miss the store.
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“The Co-op should never have sold it in the first place,” she said. “I’ve been a Co-op shopper all my life – it was the store for the working people.
“Then they sell it off and now the new people are closing it down. I think it’s very sad.”
Everything in the store was for sale – and not just the normal items. Offers were also being accepted for shelves, cupboards and even cash registers.
Other Vergo stores are due to close at the end of this week – including the former Co-op department store in Carr Street, Ipswich – unless a buyer for the remainder of the business comes forward with an acceptable offer at the 11th hour. Adminstrators said last week that negotiations were “still in progress” on a number of stores.
n Will you miss the Vergo stores? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
