Asda gets the blame as grocery store shuts

Crolla's joined five other local shops in cutting the cost of basic groceries when the supermarket giant opened in Newhaven 18 months ago.

The independent store has been forced to announce its closure later this month, however, after losing a third of its customers.

The shop has been in owner Mark Crolla's family for generations and was voted Best Local Shop in Edinburgh at the Evening News Community Awards last year.

Another of the stores which joined the price war against the American owned supermarket chain, the Wee Grocer, at 7 Anchorfield, also closed earlier this year.

Mr Crolla, 44, said trade has "plummeted" since Asda opened in late 2008. Customers had been left with tears in their eyes after hearing the store would close on 21 March, he added.

Mr Crolla, who has run his shop for 26 years and is a distant relation of the family behind the city's famous Valvona and Crolla delicatessen, said: "It's due to the four-letter word across the road – Asda. They have just chewed away at us and we're probably down a good third in takings.

"There's going to be a lot of tears before we're finished.

"There were tears from some of the older people on Friday when I told them, people that have known me since I was a little boy. It's very sad that we're having to do this, and there will be a lump in my throat when we come to close."

Local resident Frank Ferri, 74, who has used the shop for 50 years, said its closure would come as a blow to many of the area's elderly residents who had relied on deliveries from the shop during this winter's cold weather.

He said: "Mark has served the village so well and he deserves recognition for what he's done. It's very sad news indeed that the shop's going and the whole village is quite upset about it."

"The Crolla family has been known in the village for over 100 years and Mark was a very popular man around here."

Six shops slashed the cost of 12 basic items in a bid to keep local trade following Asda's opening.

Colin Smith, head of sales and marketing at Bellevue, the cash-and-carry firm which spearheaded the move, said that, despite the closures, smaller shops could still compete.

He said: "Retail has had a good Christmas and New Year and independent retailers are still very buoyant.

"There's always going to be changes, but smaller retailers can still win on service."

Crolla's of Newhaven was last year voted Best Local Shop at the News' community awards, but Mr Crolla – who always made sure housebound OAPs got their messages – did not attend the awards ceremony to avoid closing for the day.

He and his wife now intend to open a cafe in the city centre and hope to turn the shop into a flat.

Asda declined to comment.