A BELOVED DIY retailer has closed all of its stores after six decades trading.
The family-run firm is for the final time after suffering a string of financial losses.
Lawrence Brothers opened in the early 1960s and sold everything from screws to electrical goods and timber.
Also known as Lawrence's, the used to be the community's go-to hardware shop.
But with growing competition from the likes of B&Q and Screwfix, bosses said forcing it to close its stores in Maltby and Wickersley, Yorkshire
The Wickersley shop has already closed but the Maltby store on Rotherham road remains open for now with a on “virtually everything”.
Jenny Lacey, a second-generation Lawrence family member, put their struggles down to a making it harder to “make ends meet”.
She added that with the rise in internet shopping, once loyal customers were now buying their goods online.
She told Rotherham Advertiser: “It is due to a multitude of reasons.
“We have competition from the internet and whether it is that or Screwfix or B&Q locally up at Maltby, we get less footfall every year and it is harder to make ends meet.
“The supermarkets have a section selling hardware and it all chips away, not to mention the rising costs.
“Unfortunately the business is just not viable.”;
Making the decision to close down was “particularly tough” for Jenny's dad, 91, who launched the business 63 years ago with his brother.
Despite the devastating announcement, the family said the customer have been “wonderful” with many sharing “lovely” and humbling comments.
Locals hopped online to share their disappointment, with one calling the closures “another sad loss to our town”.
Many expressed concern for the growing number of being forced to close because of financial pressures.
One unhappy resident said: “It’s a sorry day forMaltby and Wickersley. Only the big corporations will survive but at a price to us all.”
Another called the closure a “disaster” for the community, whilst a third said they were saddened at the loss of an “institution”.
One commenter added: “Staff always friendly and so helpful, great to get your wood and building materials.. Will be greatly missed.”
This comes just days told how fifteen shops have closed on their high street in the space of a few months.
Some complained there was “nothing to do any more” following the “sad” decline.
Worthing saw a surge in closures between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which also revealed that 625 shops had closed in the wider county of Sussex.
This constitutes a 10 per cent drop in retailers in a blow to both shoppers and local business.
One shopper, Sally Richards, told the BBC: “It's sad that there is hardly any big departmental stores now.”
Another, Claire Szaja, said the town was “not doing as well as it used to”.
