MANY people living in Leominster and the surrounding area will have fond memories of visits to Baches Bargains in Bodenham.

A treasure trove of goods for the home and garden, the family-run store has become somewhat of an 'institution' in the area after almost 40 years in operation.

But the Bache family have now announced that the retail business will close its doors for good later this month.

The business was started by Ron Bache in 1980 when he rented a van and went in search of items to sell from the farm buildings he owned on the site.

His son, Rob Bache, who has run the business with his mum and dad since leaving school, said: "He soon found out that people were asking him to look for different things to sell so after about two years we bought the large warehouse on the same site where the business grew."

On February 21 1989 disaster struck when the business lost everything in a fire but, by March 10 1990, it had moved into a bigger warehouse which is where it has been based ever since.

Rob, who has also worked alongside Tony Troia – a partner in the business for the last 10 years, said: "Over the years we have enjoyed meeting many different people, some becoming great friends.

"Over the last few years retail trade has changed with the internet so we thought we would have to think of something different to do.

"We decided to go into storage in a small way but within two years we noticed how big it was getting so we decided to reduce the size of the retail side and concentrate more on the storage side.

"It was with great regret that this year we decided to close before the end of the year but we will still be carrying on with the storage and are opening a new campsite in the village so we will still be here if some of the old customers want to call by for a chat.

"We would like to thank everyone for their kind words over the last few weeks since we decided to close."

The store will close on November 26.