THE B-WORD has been partly blamed for the impending closure of an electrical goods shop in Petersfield town centre.
Lavant Street will soon lose one of its brightest assets as the lights will go off at Petersfield Electrics at the end of the month.
Co-owner Chris Williams claims the double whammy of rising business rates and the impact of Brexit on the pound have forced him and his wife, Emma, to pull the plug on their business.
He said: “Just about everything in our industry comes from Europe and, because the pound is struggling, the import prices have dramatically gone up by 18 to 26 per cent.
“We’ve been unable to put the retail price up because we’ve been price matching people like John Lewis but they’re in the same boat and you must have seen they’ve had a massive cut in profits.
“We’ve all had to make difficult decisions and we would have been here ten years in November but we can’t keep going.”
Mr Williams also revealed that his firm pays around £1,000 in business rates every month but the small business rate relief he receives only amounts to £17 per year.
His workforce has been halved over the last year while Chris, who confirmed the closure to the public last week, will shut up shop for the last time in late October following a month-long sale.
He added: “When we close it’s going to be emotional because we have put everything into this shop because we thought it was something the town wanted.
“The major impact on us has been Brexit and Europe. If you export then it’s great news but if you import it’s too difficult and then there’s business rates on top.”