Edinburgh family-run hardware store Poundsavers to close 40 years after three brothers opened the shop
An Edinburgh family-run hardware store which opened in 1984 is set to close for good on Hogmanay after 40 years of serving the local community.
Poundsavers at 37-41 Nicolson Street will cease trading on December 31, after the three brothers who founded the store decided to retire.
The popular shop was opened in 1984 by brothers Naseer Ahmad, 64, Khurshid Ahmad, 68, and Abdul Hamid, 70, who are still working hard at the store 40 years on.
Naseer’s son Faisal Ahmad, the current manager of Poundsavers, explained why his generation decided not to take on the family business.
He said: “We just don’t really feel that it will last another 40 years, what with online competition etc.
“It was a very difficult decision to make, it’s still very difficult, even though we know it’s happening, it’s hard to process that we close on December 31.
“It has been two years in the making, talking about the sale. We own the property and we are going to lease it out, most likely to a restaurant. Very serious talks are happening, with a planning application submitted by the future tenants.
“The latest Budget, coupled with Covid and the internet led to this decision. Around 20/ 30 years ago things were different, it’s getting harder and harder every year to run a business like this.
“We don’t want to keep putting the prices up to cover costs. We offer variety and value but we feel the value side of things is really hard to maintain these days. We have lived through recessions and managed to stay the course, but this is it.
“We want to really thank every single customer that supported us over the 40 years, we obviously wouldn’t be here without them. A lot of them have told us ‘thank god you are here’, with some calling us ‘life-savers’.
“There are not many shops that offer the variety we do, but it’s hard to compete with online retailers.”
The three brothers originally emigrated to Belfast in 1968 to carry on their father’s door to door business, before moving to Edinburgh in 1976.
Faisal said the shop is currently helping its staff find alternative employment, and he revealed that a closing down sale will commence shortly.
He said: “We have got five members of staff. We are giving them help to find another job, we wont leave them high and dry, as they have been with us for so long.
“I wasn’t even born when my dad and his brothers started the business, but I know it was a big risk for them at the time. To open the first of its kind in Edinburgh, such a big hardware store.
“They initially started with a grocery store in Gorgie in 1976, moving on to a discount hardware store in 1978 at Bread Street.
“Poundsavers was very successful. It was all local residents as customers back then, but that has changed. There is maybe only 5/10 per cent of our customers that are locals now. It’s mainly students and tourists.
“There has been a lot of happy memories made here over the years, family-run since day one. In 2010 the shopfront underwent a full restoration in partnership with Edinburgh World Heritage.
“We are going to have a closing down sale, which we are hoping to start in the next week. Hopefully we have a busy last few weeks trading here.
“The family will continue to trade going forward, but will specialise in a different field from hardware retail. With plans to open an office at the Shoeperior store down the road which will close this week.”