Central convenience in Upper St James’ Street, Newport will close its doors for good on Easter Sunday.
The decision has been taken to shut up shop in less than 2 weeks’ time with the final day of trading confirmed as Sunday 22nd April.
It’s thought issues with the lease of the property have a play to part in the unexpected closure.
Prior to becoming Central, the shop traded for a number of years under the Spar brand. The prominent outlet was given a makeover in the run up to 2015 and then transformed into Central when the Island’s Spar stores were taken over.
The news comes just weeks after the closure of another Central convenience store at Albert Road in Sandown. A large Central store in the middle of Ventnor closed 6 months ago.
Timeline of Central on the Isle of Wight
- December 2016 – Central Convenience buys Hunnyhill Group (Spar stores) [link]
- December 2017 – Bargain Booze buys Central Convenience, which becomes part of Convenality [link]
- March 2018 – Convenality announce they plan to enter administration [link]
- April 2018 – Stores across the country are saved after being bought by Bestway [link]
- September 2018 – Bestway reducing store and staffing numbers
- October 2018 – Closure of Central store in the heart of Ventnor
- March 2019 – Central close Albert Road store in Sandown
- April 2019 – Central announce closure of Upper St James’ Street store
Not surprised at all with all the superstores now on the island…
Still known as Shutler’s to us old enough to remember.
They bought the business now they are closing it, maybe unprofitable stores, then concentrate on the ones making profits
.