Sad Closure of Gerry’s
When a local shop closes it’s not just morning rolls, milk or the daily paper that customers have to go elsewhere to find. What residents and those who work in the Grassmarket will miss now that Gerry’s has closed is a lifeline to all sorts of services not advertised by a local newsagents or ‘corner’ shop: friendly banter; news of deaths, marriages and births in the area; reports on when – well, to the nearest decade – the Public Realm Works are likely to be completed; all shades of kindly local gossip (if you indulge in that kind of thing). What we’re talking about are the daily exchanges that oil the wheels of any living community.
What was particularly special about Frank and Josephine, the proprietors of Gerry’s for the last ten years, was that they had grown up and lived for many years in the Grassmarket, and still have family in the area. As well as essential local knowledge, this gave them a genuine interest in their customers and the local community. They were vigilant about changes which they saw as detrimental to the area including the needless destruction of the trees last year, and the way the public works have been planned and managed. No doubt, there are many pressures on traders at present but the disruption to trade in the Grassmarket over the past two years cannot have helped small business like Gerry’s.
We wish Frank and Josephine well for the future; they will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.
Gerry's Newsagent Last day of trading 28 July 09
(Photograph by Valeska Andrews)