Chapter Closing

The story of Oddbins in Rhuthun ends on Sunday. We’ve said before that losing this store is a real blow. The store appeared prematurely closed this week but that was simply because of the manager’s unavailability. Since Oddbins began to run the store down, there simply aren’t enough staff to cover absences. Expect it open again this week, from Wednesday (Oddbins closes on Mondays and Tuesdays anyway). This’ll be the last opportunity to purchase the sort of exotic wine almost unique to Oddbins.

The staff now departed will tell you the cause of the closure: the arrival in town of a store beginning with the letter “T”. And we don’t mean the longer standing off-licence at St Peter's Square. Competing against such giants in the convenience sector remains hazardous, even for a chain of impeccable credentials such as Oddbins. Are the former Oddbins staff just making it up? Well, why would they? We suspect that asking Thresher’s staff the same question will generate the same answer…

The future of the site looks bleak. It remains unsold and will simply close. But Rhuthun/Ruthin still has the capacity to surprise.