Popular Hucknall hardware store to close after 35 years

Another long-standing independent store in Hucknall will soon be gone after it was announced that Hucknall Home Improvement Centre is closing down.
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Owners Mike and Kathryn Coultas are retiring after Mike was sadly diagnosed with cancer during the first lockdown last year.

But while he accepts it is time to take things easy, Mike says he is sad to be leaving at time when business has never been so good.

Even though much of the country has spent much of the last year in lockdown, the store continued to stay open – after initially closing for a month last April – and has been thriving ever since.

Mike and Kathryn Coultas are selling their shop after 35 yearsMike and Kathryn Coultas are selling their shop after 35 years
Mike and Kathryn Coultas are selling their shop after 35 years

Mike said: “We initially closed last April because we thought we were doing the right thing by the country and the phone was red hot, just continually ringing all the time for a month, it was surreal.

"No-one wanted to do click and collect or queue outside the big chains so all the independents were being hammered and we realised after a month that all our opposition was open, so we opened up again.

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“I personally lost a couple of stone which I thought was down to stress but eventually I went to see the doctor and told me I’d got cancer.

"Luckily, the treatment they put me on at King’s Mill Hospital has been very good.

"People will wonder why on earth I’m stopping when business is so good and it’s ironic that we’re selling the shop now when we’ve just had our best year in 35 years.

"It’s only because of my diagnosis that I’m now retiring and it seems such a shame in a way to have to to retire when business is as good as it is.

"It’s almost like it’s exactly the wrong time to retire but I need to consider my health and my wife’s health.

"Over 35 years, you make a lot of friends with regular customers and many have said they’re sorry to us go and also sorry to see the shop go as no-one knows what it may end up as as we’re selling the property rather than the business.”

“So many people have said over the years that they’d never been in as they never realised we were there or that the shop was so big."

To say goodbye, Mike is having a big closing down sale with some big discounts available – details of the sale will be available in due course.

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