Sadness as store closes doors after 30 years in town
SHOPPERS expressed their sadness that a shop they’ve been using for decades is closing for good this weekend.
Frozen food retailer Iceland has been open in Beeston for more than 30 years.
Customers said they’d miss the affordable prices at the High Road store.
Cleaner Margaret Chamberlain, 62, said: “I’m disappointed. I do all my shopping in here every week because it’s cheaper for me.
“I’ve shopped here ever since it opened. It’s cheap. You can get everything from here. I come here every Friday and it’s always busy.”
Mrs Chamberlain, who lives in Chilwell, said she doesn’t know where she will shop instead.
“They said I can do it online but I’m not very good on the computer. I used to go to Farm Foods but that shut down. It looks like I’ll have to go to Tesco now.”
When Iceland first opened in Beeston, there was little competition. Since then both Lidl and Tesco have opened stores in the town.
Retired Geoff Thompson, who has shopped at the store for 20 years, said: “I’m gutted it’s shutting down. You need these shops for people who haven’t got a lot of money.
“I like it because it’s cheap,” said the 66-year-old Beeston resident.
Shaun O’connor, who was shopping there for the last time, said he was also a long-time customer.
The 62-year-old Boots worker, who lives in Beeston, said: “They say you can go to Long Eaton or Stapleford but it means going out of my way. I’ve shopped here since it first opened.”
Part-time checkout assistant Samuel Tyler, a 24-year-old Open University student who has worked at the shop for six weeks, said: “It’s really sad.
“Over the last month quite a lot of customers coming in have expressed how sad they feel and also how betrayed they feel. I think the fact it has been here 30 years they really do care about this store and it seems to be really convenient.
“The last customer said he’d been coming in 20 years and how it’s always been easy for him to get to, we’ve been well stocked and it’s cheap. It seems a shame it’s closing down.”
The freezers are starting to look bare at the store, which closes at 4pm today.
Bosses blamed rising rent costs for making it unviable to continue trading.
Seventeen staff working at the Beeston branch were given the devastating news in November. Acting manager Chris Green at the time: “It was a definite shock.
“We’ve had so many people ringing up to say they’ve been coming for years and they’re really saddened by it. We are trying to carry on as usual but morale does seem low.”
The high street chain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020. It has more than 900 stores across the UK and is famed for using celebrities Peter Andre and Kerry Katona in its TV adverts.
In 2009 the company flew almost 800 store, regional and area managers to a five-day conference at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The Post contacted Iceland’s head office for a response but had not received a reply at the time of going to press.