AN ELECTRONICS firm has pulled the plug on its Dorchester store.

The Panasonic store in Trinity Street has shut up shop, with signs on the doors advising customers that the nearest outlet is in Exeter.

A spokesman for the firm said in a statement: “We still operate Panasonic Stores successfully from Exeter and Newton Abbot and are continuing to service our obligations to customers in the Dorchester region.

“The Dorchester branch has closed as part of a streamlining exercise within the Company and as a consequence of increasingly challenging trading conditions for all retailers.”

The spokesman added that three people were employed at the store with one taking voluntary redundancy, another being made redundant and the third was offered a promotion at the chain’s Exeter branch.