Shopmobility struggles after Princess Square Sainsbury's closure

The town centre store, which provides mobility scooters for shoppers to get around in, has fallen on hard times recently due to a declining membership and a gradual cut in funding from the council.

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Several elderly, disabled or vulnerable people hired scooters to shop in Sainsbury's, which was just a short distance from Shopmobility in Princess Square. 

Becky, a Shopmobility volunteer, told the News about the effect the food store closing has had on the charity since the supermarket shut down for good at the end of February.

She said: “Princess Square is quiet at the moment.

“With Sainsbury’s shutting down, that was a life source for most of the elderly living near to the town.

“We have noticed a difference not seeing those people coming in.”

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Sainsbury’s closure came just a couple of weeks before other town centre businesses shut down and many people started self-isolating to avoid spreading coronavirus.

Shopmobility is still open and “plodding on” despite the pandemic, Becky said, but more measures have been taken to keep mobility scooters clean in the recent days.

The vehicles’ handles are being wiped down with anti-bacterial wipes and volunteers and required to frequently wash their hands.

Becky believes the drop in customers coming in has largely been because of the Sainsbury’s closure, but this has not stopped her from worrying about regular users of the scooters.

She said: “It is not so much the pennies coming through the door, it is that you hope the people who come in are well and we are more concerned about the regular people who used to come in.

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“We hope it is through Sainsbury’s closing and not the virus and we hope they will all be returning again.”

As well as being a place where shoppers can hire mobility scooters, Shopmobility acts as a social hub for lonely and isolated people through a number of events volunteers regularly host.

Becky told the News she fears some of the store’s regular elderly visitors may struggle if they have to self-isolate for a long stretch of time.

She added: “We have the ex-veterans event every Tuesday.

“One of them came in and he said ‘I’m 83 years old and if I have got to self-isolate for four months I won’t just be going stir crazy, I will be on the roof. I will go mad.

“It is alright if you have family who are in regular contact and the internet but if you’re an old person who has nobody and who is sitting on your own 24/7 it is not going to have a great impact.

“It would be different if it was warm and sunny but when it is quite grim out there it is tough.

“It would not surprise me when this is all over if the GPs are seeing a lot of people who have hit rock bottom.”