A well-known Ayr cash and carry closed for good on Saturday after a half century of trading.
Staff and bosses at the Iannotti Bros business were clearing out the Ayr warehouse. Many grocers and licensed premises relied on it as the company offered free delivery.
Now they are having to source a new supplier out of the area, and one Ayr customer said: “It is terrible news for us as it was a great company to deal with and easy to get our deliveries.
The Viewfield Road premises are being completely cleared out and the Ionnotti family plan to rent it out to tenants.
A spokesman for the family said this week: “We are all still feeling very raw.
“This is a sad time for the family, the staff and our customers.”
The firm has been at Viewfield Road for 19 years and its truck was a familiar site delivering supplies.
But the spokesman added: “This business has never been all about the money.
“But new regulations such as the cigarette plain packaging, minimum pricing for alcohol and legislation in general all bite into our turnover We felt going forward it was not a viable proposition.The family have other businesses and property interests and we will concentrate on that.”
