BEST Foods is closing at the end of June.

The company said spiralling costs and competition from the Marks & Spencer Simply Food store at St Martin’s, which opened last May, had rendered the business financially unviable.

A total of nine staff, including five part-timers, could be offered jobs at Alliance Cash & Carry, which has the same owner.

Best Foods manager and director Pat Le Tocq said that more than 200 customers per week had been lost since Simply Food opened.

‘With the combination of that, the high rent we have to pay and the cost of our liquor licence going from £100 to £1,300, we can no longer sustain the losses that have been made,’ he said.

Mr Le Tocq gave staff the news on Friday, which was followed the next day by a letter from Best Foods owner Chris Fish.

‘I don’t think they were really surprised, but it’s still a shock when it happens,’ said Mr Le Tocq.

‘It was bad enough for me and I was more informed than they were.’

The long-established business has been under the current ownership for about 13 years. Mr Le Tocq said that when he joined about four years ago, it was with a view to ‘turning things around’.

‘We did that and sales picked up nicely and last year we nearly reached break-even point.’

Some jobs were shed last year to save money, but he said the burden of the extra work fell on those who were left and when that happened, the security of the store and staff retention could become issues.

He added that the closure was no reflection on staff, who were loyal and reliable in what was not an easy place to work. Goods had to be left outside and manhandled in and there were numerous sets of stairs within the building.

Mr Le Tocq said he would be speaking to as many customers as he could, some of whom had been very loyal, but ultimately that had been shown to not be enough.

‘We are in a business where there is competition, and we accept that, but at the end of the day, it’s that plus the high rents and increased running costs that have defeated us.’

Pat Sarre, the manageress of Tussie Mussie Flowers, which occupies part of the same building, said she did not think her business would be adversely affected by the closure.

Many orders were made by telephone and people would still be able to park outside.

‘We have been here for more than six years and the turnover has increased every year,’ she said.

‘Best Foods sells flowers anyway and that has not made a difference to us.’