No news is bad news for Victorian Market newsagent
IT is the end of the road for two city centre traders who have announced they are shutting up shop for family reasons.
Robert (55) and Sharon Hood (52) have run Hood News in the Victorian Market for the past six years, continuing a trading tradition that runs back decades.
Now, however, they say the time has come for a change and they will be calling it a day this summer, with August 26 a likely closing date.
"It really is for personal reasons that we’ve made this decision," Robert said. "Our son Graeme used to help out in the shop but he moved to East Kilbride and has twins that are now just over a year old. We just don’t get to see them as much as we’d like with a business that ties you from Monday to Saturday, 6am to 5pm."
As a former delivery driver for Tennent’s, Robert said he will be looking for another job while Sharon will continue her part-time job as an office manager. But, he added, they will definitely miss all their regular customers.
"There are a lot of older people we see all the time and who you get to know," he said. "It will be a bit sad saying goodbye to them.
"We are just the third people to run the newsagent here, which has been on the go for 70 years. The people before us had it for 16 years and those before them had it since it started.
"We haven’t given notice to the council yet that we are giving it up and hopefully before then we can find someone to take the business on.
"It would be a real shame for it to be lost entirely to the town."
