Customers broke down in tears after being told the only specialist greengrocers' shop in Abingdon town centre is to close.

Supa-Fruits, in the town's Bury Street shopping precinct, will trade for the last time this Saturday (Sept 19) - because the family owners can no longer afford spiralling rates and rent bills.

It is the latest blow to small businesses in the town and has fuelled complaints from shoppers that too many small shops are disappearing from the centre.

Owner Martin Sherman claimed his business rate and rent bills have more than doubled since the shop was first opened 11 years ago.

He said: "It is the high rates that have been the main problem.

"We have tried to keep it going but it has proved to be too much of a strain on the family business. If you are not making a profit, you can't carry on."

He added that he had been amazed by the reaction of many of his regular customers. "It has been unbelievable. We have had people bursting into tears at the till," he said.

"It is a shock to a lot of the older generation who can't get into cars and drive to the supermarkets. They like the service we provide." Three full-time members of staff, as well as one part-time employee, will lose their jobs as a result of the closure, although the other family store in Millbrook Square, Grove will stay open.

The Rev Geraldine Coldham, 63, of Metcalfe Close, Abingdon, who has shopped at the store since moving to the town three years ago, said: "A lot of what you can buy in there is a good deal cheaper than elsewhere.

"A lot of pensioners like it because there is personalised customer service and it is easy to get to." She added: "The council is trying to attract people into the town yet, by losing another shop like this, it is going to be less attractive to shoppers. If you want to keep the centre of Abingdon active, you have got to have a policy which encourages that."

Some shoppers have argued that too many charity shops, attracted by the lure of large reductions in their own business rates, have replaced more traditional shops.

Referring to those reductions, Mr Dave Higginson, vice-president of the Abingdon & District Chamber of Commerce, said: "If we all had big reductions, we would all move into the Precinct." He said his members were concerned about the latest closure but added that it was hardly a surprise.

He said: "The level of rates is an issue members are concerned about and it is something we are talking to the council about."

However, while the Vale of White District Council is responsible for billing companies, the rates are actually set by the Valuation Office in Oxford. The Vale does, however, offer rate reductions to certain businesses, including charity shops, which largely follow Government guidelines.

A spokesman for the Vale said the setting of rates was an issue for the Valuation Office.

Mr Tim Harris, of the Valuation Office, said all properties were being re-evaluated every five years.

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