Citing "changing times'' and the loss of Sunday business to supermarkets, Hitching Post owner Mr. Frank Arnold said yesterday he'd be closing for good next week.

"We were one of the first stores to open Sundays and holidays. Nowadays, everybody's open. What has topped it off is that Government has allowed 1-5 p.m. openings for large supermarkets,'' Frank Arnold said.

Mr. Arnold also owns Arnold's Supermarket and the Maximart, both in Somerset, and Arnold's on St. John's Road in Hamilton. The latter, formerly T.A.

Adderley & Son Grocery, was acquired a year ago. He also owns a stake in Pink's Deli in Hamilton.

Mr. Arnold said he can remain competitive because with the three grocery stores he has the same buying power as larger stores.

But he said he knows of at least two other family-owned smaller groceries that are "on the verge'' of closing because they have lost their Sunday business to bigger stores.

Late in 1995, Darrell & Seaman owner Eddy Lindo said allowing big stores to open on Sundays was partly to blame for the closure of his store that year.

Mr. Lindo had bought the store from Gilbert Darrell 13 years earlier.

"That was their only real day to make money. They can't compete with large stores but the people have spoken. They want markets open on Sundays,'' Mr.

Arnold said.

Hitching Post staff will be transferred to Mr. Arnold's other stores.

"There is the possibility of future layoffs. But it will depend on sales,'' Mr. Arnold said.

In the short term, no one is losing their job, he added.

There has been no decision on what will happen to the Hitching Post building which is owned by the Arnold family, he said.

To run down merchandise, The Hitching Post is discounting stock from today through closing. Remaining stock will be transferred to Mr. Arnold's other grocery stores.

In an attempt to recapture some Sunday market share, Mr. Arnold has dramatically reduced square footage floor space at Arnold's Supermarket in Somerset. He estimated he has shrunk the 4,100-square-foot store by 1,600 feet to comply with rules allowing the store to open on Sundays and holidays.

Effective February 23, Arnold's Supermarket will open at 7 a.m. and close at 12 midnight.

The Hitching Post was opened 30 years ago by Ferdinand Arnold who passed away three years ago.

Frank Arnold grew up learning the business from his father. He started working at the store when he was 12 and by his mid-teens he was at the family business full-time.

Ferdinand Arnold was born in Bermuda but grew up in the Azores where his father owned a small shop. He opted to return to Bermuda and after various jobs -- including pumping gas at the Port Royal gas station, construction work, cutting stone at Whale Bay, gardening and owning a vegetable cart -- he leased the Hitching Post building and opened his own store gradually adding new merchandise to the shelves.

"He gradually expanded the business, year by year, doing the work himself,'' Mr. Arnold said.

The decision to close the grocery store was "most definitely'' agonising but it is a "response to the market''.