A fish shop in Dunfermline has shut down due to inflated energy bills and wholesale prices.
The Fresh Fish Place in Abbeyview’s Duncan crescent was one of seven similar shops in Scotland run by owner John Stephen.
Now only four remain, as he’s also been forced to close locations in Sauchie and Bathgate.
He said: “What led to the closure was just the cost-of-living crisis. People just aren’t spending the money nowadays.”
“The cost of the produce and the inflated utilities adds up, and retail in my opinion is done and dusted.
“I always thought we could survive because of the quality of our product, but customer can’t turn out like they used to.
“It gets on my nerves driving past McDonald’s on a Saturday and every table is full.”
The business is now transitioning to an online delivery service, which Mr Stephen believes will be up and running with next day delivery available in the next two weeks.
It will be operated from a head office in Grangemouth, but the loss of the physical store in Dunfermline means that at least one local employee is out of a job.
Mr Stephen continued: “It’s not getting any better with the recent budget because it’ll cost more to keep staff.”
Last month’s budget announcement revealed a planned increase in employer’s national insurance (NI) contributions of 1.2 percentage points.
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