THERE was more doom and gloom on the high street in Suffolk today - with more shopworkers losing their jobs.

THERE was more doom and gloom on the high street in Suffolk today - with more shopworkers losing their jobs.

In Felixstowe, the business community was waiting to hear about the future of the town's Marks & Spencer store after the company announced it was cutting more than 1,200 jobs countrywide.

Revealing its worst sales figures for a decade, it said it would also be closing 25 under-performing Simply Food outlets, and two of its smallest main chain stores selling both food and clothes.

Felixstowe's store in Hamilton Road is believed to be the smallest M&S in the country but it is not yet known if its future is threatened.

In Ipswich, the Oasis store in Tavern Street will stop trading on January 17.

The outlet is one of five Oasis stores in the area closing down, though the concession stand in Debenhams will remain open.

Tavern Street store manager Victoria Squirrel said: “We are just not really making a profit here, the rent is astronomical here. We are sad but life goes on.

“Obviously because Oasis is part of a larger group some staff can relocate to other stores like Warehouse, and others have found other jobs.”

The independent juice company Myjuice that had to close its flagship store in the Buttermarket on Boxing Day after economic pressure forced the business to tighten its purse-strings hopes to be back on the high street when the recession is over.

The company is hoping to ride out the downturn through its delivery service and Mini-Myjuice school franchises.

David Fisher, joint director of Myjuice, said: “We have made a business decision. There is only so much you can support off your own back and we have closed our doors.

“We are gutted that we have had to do so, but it would just have got to a stage months down the line when we were forced to close down and there would be no going back at that point.

“We have closed our doors on the high street, but that is not to say that we will not be back because it is about rebuilding - in spring or summer you may see us back on the high street.”

How is the recession affecting your business? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk