KIDDERMINSTER'S economy has been dealt a new blow with the closure of a shoe shop that has been trading in the town for more than a decade.

Shoe Express is set to close its doors for the last time next month and the news comes only a fortnight after the loss of retail store, Littlewoods.

The shoe shop, in Vicar Street, will see seven redundancies but the firm says it is trying to see if there are positions for the employees in its Merry Hill and Bromsgrove stores.

A spokesman for owner, Stead and Simpson, Jonathan Smith, said the lease was up and the firm decided the store's long-term prospects were not good.

He explained: "There are a lot of shoe shops in the town now and so it was decided that the store was no longer viable.

"There is, currently, one full-time member of staff and six part-time employees at the store and we are currently investigating whether alternative employment can be found for them elsewhere within the company but there are no guarantees."

Shoe Express has traded in the town since October, 1994. Prior to that, Trueform, owned by British Shoe Corporation, had traded at the store since 1970.