Closing sweet shop leaves a sour tasté

Rocketing overheads force retailer to pull plug after two years

- LOUISE WALSH

A RETAILER who had just 97c in his business account last week was forced to close the business for the sake of his mental health.

Ednan Hameed had to admit rising costs and little Government support left him and his wife no option but to shut the family's Yummy Creames sweet shop in Navan, Co Meath, yesterday.

The couple opened the shop two years ago with their savings and they hoped to pass the business down to their children Ayesha, 15, Saad, 13, and 10-year-old Tayyab.

However, surging prices of traditional sweets, coupled with an almost three-fold rise in his electricity bills, has left the 42-year-old admitting defeat.

Ednan said: "I'm a born and bred Irish man and I worked all my life in different jobs.

"I worked in the rag trade, in the restaurant business, as a Dublin taxi driver, a security job and even in Carroll's Gift Shop in Dublin.

"My wife Sobia worked as a carer.

We really struggled at that time but we managed to save a bit of money and took a short-term let out on this shop in our home town.