Edinburgh city centre shop Poundsavers to remain open for another month thanks to Evening News article

Two weeks ago, family-run hardware store Poundsavers at 37-41 Nicolson Street announced it will cease trading on December 31, after the three brothers who founded the store decided to retire.

However, the shop will now carry on until January 31, 2025, after the family were overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion from customers following the news it was to close.

Poundsavers will now close its doors for good at the end of January instead of the end of December as originally planned. | Submitted

The Edinburgh city centre 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, revealed that the family has been blown away by the response to the Evening News article about the closure, with customers expressing shock and sadness at the news.

He said: “We have been inundated with phone calls and the public coming into the shop expressing their shock and sadness with the news of our closure.

“We have been overwhelmed and touched with the amount of people who have come forward and told us at how upset they are learning we were supposed to close at the end of year.

“We have been so moved by all the comments from the pubic we have decided to extend our closing down period until January 31, 2025.

Brothers Naseer Ahmad, Khurshid Ahmad and Abdul Hamid pictured at their Poundsavers store at Nicolson Street in Edinburgh. | Submitted

“A lot of customers said it would be hard for them to come in towards the end of the year due to the festive period so we thought we would try to accommodate our customers for one last time before we close our doors for the final time.

“It was difficult to negotiate a new entry date for the incoming buyers as they are geared up to start on their project and the paperwork was set for December 31.

“However we managed to hold onto it for an extra month to serve the community for a final month.”

Poundsavers was opened in Edinburgh 40 years ago in 1984. | Submitted

Speaking about the power of the Evening News article last month about the closure, Faisal added: “I feel the article, for a local news story, had quite a lot of activity associated with its publishing, with likes, comments and shares.

“We were surprised at the amount of people who reacted to the Facebook post, but were utterly shocked at the amount of people who came into the store once the story was published, we were astounded it had reached so many people and grateful for every single person who came in and appreciated the business being here all these years.

“Another shock to us was other businesses in the city who operate in the same category as us, hardware retailers, were shocked and scared to see us go, as they have always followed in our footsteps.

“We have been happy to lead the way for all these years, however, all good things come to an end, so we wish them the best of luck and we know they will do well as we have acted as a mentor for them for all these years.”