SAL Trading said it planned to close its St John’s Road store and relocate its paint business to its locations outside of Pembroke.The company’s retail operations manager Morris Moniz said it made sense to consolidate operations at its Devonshire and Southampton stores in the struggling economy.SAL Trading’s move follows the recent closure and relocation of two other home and building supplies stores. Blaming the poor economy, Arnold’s Tile & Building Supplies closed its doors on December 31 after 30 years in business.Meanwhile, cabinet, flooring and countertop seller Sticks and Stones has put its St John’s Road building up for sale as it planned to relocate the business to a new showroom in Paget to increase foot traffic and visibility.Mr Moniz said relocating the paint business would save SAL Trading substantially on rent, since it owned its Devonshire and Southampton buildings.“It is a tough economy and a tough market, so relocating made sense for us,” Mr Moniz said yesterday. “We have had three years of not the best economy.”He said staff at the St. John’s Road store would move to the Devonshire and Southampton locations and no one would be let go.He added the lines of paint carried at the Pembroke store, including Pratt & Lambert known as a colour and quality leader in the industry and California Paints, would initially be available at the Hermitage Road store in Devonshire, and then also at the Southampton location. Those locations already sell ACE Paint.Mr Moniz said the St. John’s Road store was expected to close on January 28. SAL’s president and CEO is Bill Morrison.Mayne’s Furniture is another business that’s consolidating operations to save money in this economic climate.The retailer, which has been a fixture on King Street for the last 25 years, is closing its doors and moving the store to its warehouse at Heron Bay, Southampton at the end of the month.