Long-running Marlow hardware store to close due to COVID

A hardware store which has been in Marlow for 25 years has announced it is due to close because of the 'devastating financial aftermath' of the pandemic.

Hunt's of Marlow, which is based in Station Road, told its customers the news via social media today (Tuesday).

The family run business has been established since 1996 and began as a small shop in Spittle Street. After outgrowing this, an expansion was required and the store added a second shop on the other side of the street in 2002.

Both shops then combined into one big premises in 2006 to cope with demand.

However the impact of coronavirus has forced the independent shop to make the decision to close - a choice Hunt's Marlow said it has made with 'great sadness'.

No dates have been given as to when the shop will shut for good, although the business indicated it would be in the 'very near future'.

"It is with great sadness that Hunt’s Hardware will close business, after quarter of a century of trading in Marlow, in the very near future, due to COVID's devastating financial aftermath, which is affecting all independent shops," Hunt's wrote on Facebook.

Comments from customers expressed sadness at the decision, with one claiming that life in Marlow 'will not be the same', while others said Hunt's was the 'only hardware shop around for miles'.

To read more about the impact of the pandemic on small businesses, click here.