The Shoe Shop of Abingdon closed down today. That leaves Abingdon with just two dedicated shoe shops – Clarks and Scruffs.
Coffee shops continue to do much better than traditional shops – such as butchers, greengrocers, and even video rentals – the 1980s success story.
There are notices on the ex-Hadleigh China shop, at the top of West St Helen Street, to say that they are looking for recruits for a frozen yogurt specialist.
A steady stream of people crossed Abingdon Bridge this Easter Bank Holiday.
The hire boats were flying out.
Dushan, the Landlord of the Nags Head pub, enjoys the sunshine.
Sunshine is good for business, particularly on a bank holiday Monday.
It is mentioned in the planning application about opening a restaurant at 1-3 Bury Street that Unit 3 is potentially soon to become vacant. A Closing Down notice has now appeared in the window.
From 4 dedicated card shops, a few years ago, there will soon be just the one in Abingdon. Although increasingly, other retailers offer greeting cards.
Boots Opticians opened just over a week ago in Bury Street. That brings the number of opticians in Bury Street to four – so it is quite a centre of excellence.
Also on Saturday I spotted a group of people on the Market Place with a ‘Save The NHS’ petition. They want:
• To put a stop to privatisation of the NHS
• Make sure it has the funding it needs to provide high-quality healthcare
• Protect it from US health corporations by keeping the NHS out of the TTIP trade deal with America
The petition is also online: www.38degrees.org.uk/nhs.