A PARK Gate electrical store is to close after more than 50 years because of competition from national retail giants.

Hobson and Kelsey, which has had a shop in Bridge Road since 1946, will reluctantly shut its doors to customers for the last time at the end of March.

The shock closure will mean the end of the line for Hobson and Kelsey, whose only other outlet, in Hedge End, was forced to shut last year because of market pressures.

Bosses have blamed flagging trade on a boom in national electrical stores and supermarkets selling cheap TVs, videos and other brown goods.

Bill Dickinson, one of the directors of the business, said the shop had been "squeezed out of the market".

"It's been an insidious process. Business has been deteriorating over a number of years.

"We have been thinking about closing for some time," he said.

Trade may have been dropping off, but a lot of customers, particularly elderly ones, had come to rely on the shop's old-fashioned service, said Mr Dickinson.

"It has been a successful business and we have a lot of very faithful customers. Lots of people have been coming in to say how sorry they are to hear the news," said Mr Dickinson, who has worked in the shop since 1959. Older customers would be particularly hard-hit by the shop's closure, he added.

"A lot of elderly people rely on our service. They even ask for you by name. They see me every day of the week virtually and have done for years."

John Guest, president of the Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce, said small businesses must concentrate on their strengths in the face of such competition.

"There is no doubt that the expansion in the large warehouse-style of shops has put huge pressure on small retailers.

"Most small retailers rely on strengths such as quality of personal service and it's hard for the large outlets to compete on that level.

"But the big shops can compete far more on price than small retailers, and if all the customers are looking at is price, this is going to cause problems."

Rumours that Halfords in Gosport is to close have been quashed by the company's head office. A spokesman for the company said rumours that the branch was shutting up shop hot on the heels of the Fareham store, which closes later this month - were unfounded.

"The Gosport shop is doing really well," she said.

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