COMMENT: We need to be more honest about shopping

At a time when every few months we hear of another high street giant in dire financial straits, it was a heartening tale of a local business that appeared to be surviving against the odds.

But even then, behind the scenes, the owners of the fancy dress and joke emporium must have known that the writing was on the wall.

The decision to close would not have been something its owners have taken lightly.

Sadly, being a ‘much loved institution’ of the city centre is no insulation against, as store owner Steve Searle put it: ‘the hostile environment’ of the modern high street.

And while we are sure they take some solace from all of the kind words being shared on social media, it must be cold comfort for the family who must also be wondering where those people have been shopping instead.

It was telling that many of the comments echoed a nostalgic tone of: ‘I remember going there as a kid,’ which suggests they have not been recently. Stores cannot survive on sentiment alone.

The grim roll call of chains that were once deemed to big to fail is likely to carry on through 2019. Already this year we have seen HMV teeter on the brink and only survive through a rescue package which has led to the closure of a fifth of its stores.

And our own John Lewis store, Knight & Lee is to close in July after a shock announcement earlier last month.

While the loss of high street brands comes tinged with sadness – and the obvious tragedy of the ensuing loss of jobs for the local economy – it doesn’t quite hit home in the way the loss of U Need Us does.

It would be lovely to think that this serves as a wake-up call and people come offline and back into the stores , but that is, quite frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land.