SHOPS in Stourport-on-Severn could be forced to close because trade has slumped dramatically since the local post office was forced to close.

Sunshine Ladies Wear and Windmill Flowers, in Queens Road, the Walshes, are on the same row of shops as the post office which closed on Thursday, November 27, as part of national cuts.

Linda Hutchinson, aged 59, owner of Sunshine Ladies Wear, said: “It is absolutely terrible. Between November 26 and 29 we sold nothing whatsoever.

“On November 30 we sold one cardigan. It’s embarrassing and it can’t go on for much longer or we will have to shut down.”

Mrs Hutchinson, who has owned the shop for two years with her daughter, Suzanne Ella, said business had been fine until it was announced that the post office would be axed. She said: “We used to get people coming in for a cup of tea and a chat, having been to the post office, because that’s the kind of place we run.

“We averaged six or seven customers a day before but literally nobody is coming now. No one is walking past so no one comes in.”

Suzanne Giles-Pulley, who owns Windmill Flowers, said passing trade had dropped by about 50 per cent and she felt it was “only going to get worse”.

Mrs Giles-Pulley said her rent was due to be increased and worried if business did not pick up soon she too could be forced to close.

She said: “If trade goes down and rent goes up, I don’t stand a chance. As soon as the announcement was made about the post office closure, people made alternative arra-ngements and stopped coming.

“We don’t get the influx of people collecting their pensions or posting letters. Trade really has fallen dramatically.”

People who live at the Walshes now have to travel to Areley Kings post office at Areley Common, almost a mile from Queens Road.

Mrs Hutchinson said: “This time last year, business was booming in the run-up to Christ-mas. I don’t want people to stop coming to the shop and I would love the usual ladies to start coming again.

“I don’t blame them, though. If there’s no reason to come up here without the post office, why should they go out of their way?”