their business on Thursday.

The business, owned by Gilbert and Donna Amaral, has had a retail outlet in Melbourne House on the corner of Victoria and Parliament streets in Hamilton for 12 years.

Although the Amarals will be closing the Hamilton shop, they will continue to operate a wholesale fruit and vegetable business, Mrs. Amaral, preferring not to discuss the closure at length, said.

"It's been hard. Closing was a hard decision. But we've had to scale down and cut back. It needs too much time,'' she said.

Prior to opening the shop, Mr. Amaral sold produce through a mobile vending operation.

In the run-up to this week's closure, the business is offering discount, ranging from ten to 25 percent, on its produce.

This is the second closure in as many months in this sector. Five weeks ago, Frank Arnold closed his Somerset grocery store, the Hitching Post.

Mr. Arnold cited loss of Sunday business to bigger stores for the decision to close the Hitching Post, which had been operating for 30 years. Mr. Arnold also said he knew of at least two other family-owned groceries on the verge of closing for the same reason.