Owner Ronald Hook blames a bad business environment for the closure of his computer store, The Micro Centre Ltd.

The business, which changed its name from Retail Solutions half a dozen years ago and more recently moved from Front Street to Reid Street Extension, finally closed its doors on July 5, with the loss of seven jobs.

Mr. Hook said, "We are voluntarily closing the doors after eight years. We found it too hard to make a profit. We offered great prices but there is a lot of competition, especially from overseas.

"Most people still go overseas for computer products, unless you can give them the same US price here.'' Specialising in the PC sales and service market, Mr. Hook will now seek to sell the company's assets and pay off the debts.

Mr. Hook said, "I'll probably stay out of this market, but I don't know. It will take at least 30 days and probably longer to get this resolved and then I will make some decisions later.

"We tried to compete as closely as possible to the American prices, but with high overheads, pay and taxes, we just couldn't do it. When we moved to Reid Street Extension it cut down our rent a bit, but we just can't make ends meet.

"We don't have big debts or anything so we decided to wind up the company.''