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A couple running a Burton Post Office at the heart of its community have spoken of their sadness as they close their doors for the final time.
Winshill Post Office’s last day of trading is today, June 27, with bosses Rupa and Parish Vakharia having been in charge for the last 18 years. They say inflation and rising bills have made the business unviable.
They still live in the building and have no plans to do anything to the Post Office yet, having put the property on the market, in the hope someone else will move in and reopen it.
Mum-of-two Rupa, 58, said: “We’ll really miss our community. It’s a great community and they’ve supported us so well throughout our time here. Wel’ll both really miss chatting with people and helping them.”
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The Bearwood Hill Road facility is one of the few Post Offices that has not added a convenience store to in the last decade. That has meant it has been hit particularly hard by services being moved online, Rupa told StaffordshireLive.
She said: “We were doing a lot of TV licences, bus passes and that sort of thing, but everything’s slowly been moved online. In 2012, the Post Office wanted us to sign a new contract to open a convenience store at the shop, but we said ‘no’ and, to this day, they haven’t been able to find anyone else to take on that contract, so we’ve just carried on.
“Now, though, we just can’t survive as a business. The electricity bills and inflation have made things unviable. Parish is 62 and I’m 58, so we’re getting older and we’ve been thinking about retirement. I’m going to look for some admin work now, though.”
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