BRECON’S oldest newsagent is to shut after its owner, who will soon turn 70, decided it was time to retire.
Mike Edwards, who runs M & G Edwards newsagents on The Watton with his wife Gillian, has been unable to sell the business after putting it on the market nearly four years ago.
Mike took over the shop in 2003 from Colin Jones, who had run a newsagents on the site for 40 years. Mr Jones’ family had owned the business since the Second World War.
Mike said M & G Edwards will finally close its doors on Saturday, March 31. He said it was a decision he and his wife have taken with a heavy heart but he feels now is the “right time”.
Mike, who is originally from Hirwaun and who previously ran a pub in Knighton, said the couple want to have more leisure time and to see more of their grandchildren.
Keeping up with the grandchildren in itself could be a full-time job as one lives with their youngest daughter Katherine in Brighton and the other two are with their older daughter Janice in Australia.
Mike and Gillian will continue living in the upstairs of their home on the Watton, while they plan to convert the shop back into a residential property, which they will then put up for sale. Mike and Gillian have spent the last 13 years since they bought their business working marathon days – from 5am to 7.30pm – seven days a week, although Sunday is usually a very welcome “half day”.
After buying the business Mike immediately doubled the size of premises by extending sidewards into the garden.
This along with the installation of a National Lottery machine, development of the retail side of the business and the addition of an off licence means the business has gone from strength to strength and put the Edwards in a position where they can contemplate a comfortable retirement.
In recent years, sales of newspapers have dropped but this has been compensated for with a bakery section, coffee and tea machine and a greater range of produce.
The arrival of the Aldi store about two years after they moved in was “a blow” and greater competition has also come in the form of more shops in Brecon selling newspapers.
Mike is a very well known face in Brecon as he is a member of the Brecknock Lodge of Freemasons and recently spent a year as the lodge’s Master.
Mike and Gillian tried to retire once before when they let the newsagent out as a going concern from September 2015 to September 2016. Unfortunately that didn’t work out and Mike and Gillian had to take over the reins again, much to their customers’ delight. The couple now refer to the episode as their “gap year”.
Mike said: “We’re sorry to be closing the business because we have so many friends who are our customers. We will miss serving them everyday but as we’ll still be living here I’m sure we’ll see everybody because it’s such a close-knit community. We wanted our customers to know that we are closing the newsagent and when that will be. Our last day will be the last day in March.
“We’d like to see more of our three grandchildren. Two of them live in Australia, near Brisbane. We’ve been out there before and I’ve been swimming by the barrier reef and snorkelling, so hopefully I can do more of that.”