After 21 years of business, Annie Young is preparing to close her store, True Reflections.“It feels like I’m losing a family member,” she said yesterday. “We had a lot of people coming here for the last 21 years. We’ve seen them grow up.”Describing the hardships being faced by Bermudians in the workforce in the Budget statement last Friday, Premier Paula Cox named Ms Young as a victim of the soft economy.“Ms Young would often enquire about my family or point out a particular item that she thought my friends would like,” Ms Cox said.“Sometimes, if my packages were too heavy, she would ask one of her staff to help me to carry them to my office. I could never leave her store empty handed.”Unfortunately, facing the hardships of the economy have proven too much for True Reflections, which will shut its doors on February 26.Ms Young said: “I made the decision right after Christmas, and I had to tell the girls we cannot go on.“I sort of saw it coming. Old people see things, feel things. We smell things as my mother used to say. I thought about it every night.“It’s because our people don’t have the money to spend, people don’t have jobs.“This is not just the Island, it’s the whole world. It got us here last. People didn’t think it would.”Ms Young, who owns the business with her daughters, opened the original store on Court Street in 1990, selling books, toys, cards and other assorted items.Ten years ago, the store moved to Chancery Lane, but she said a decline in tourists visiting the Island lead to a decline in business.“Things became difficult in 2008 when we didn’t have any cruise ships. We did well with the cruise ship passengers.“We had a lot of Canadians who came here, some came by almost every year. I have some of their addresses, so I’m going to send them letters.”With less than a week before the store shuts its doors for good, the windows are decorated with paper advertising that everything is half price.Asked if there was anything that could have been in the Budget to save the business, she said no.“Saturday is our last big day for sales. After that, we have to pack everything else up and clean the place up by the 28th,” she said.“We’re going through a challenging time, the whole Island not just us.“I feel sorry for the young people who have not had the opportunity to go into a shop like this. I have students who come in here all the time and say thank you for letting me sit down and read a book.“The hardest part was to tell the girls who work here. It is very difficult to let them go.”She said that she, along with one of her full-time staff members, plan on retiring once the store is closed, but said a second full-time employee is now looking for work.lUseful website: www.gov.bm.