Historic Cupar business R. Dott Thomson put up for sale

Owners John and Maureen Robb have put hardware store R Dott Thomson up for sale, along with another shop in Blairgowrie.

The couple have decided to retire after running the Bonnygate business for 20 years.

The store has a much longer history than that, with the R Dott Thomson brand stretching all the way back to 1863.

Since then the shop has had occupied many premises throughout Cupar’s town centre.

Maureen said she is desperate not to close the store down, adding: “I can’t imagine a Cupar without R Dott Thomson”.

“Putting up the ‘for sale’ signs has caused absolute chaos,” she said. “A lot of people said they would hate to lose the shop.

“I’m going to keep going until I can find someone to take over.

“I would hate to be the last owner. I would hate to lose R Dott Thomson.”

Despite the changes to the town centre over the years, Maureen says business continues to go well.

“It has been about changing and keeping ahead of the curve,” she added.

“You’ve got to change or else you’ll go under.”

While the high streets of many Fife towns have changed, often for the worse, over the last couple of decades, Maureen believes that Cupar’s town centre has “stayed OK”.

She believes part of this is down to the number of local brands such as R Dott Thomsons which have remained in the town.

She added: “We’ve not got a lot of empty shops.

“Losing Woolworths did not help, neither did Glenrothes becoming the county town.

“There used to be a lot of staff at the county buildings, who would come here.

“But Cupar has done quite well – it still has a lot of little shops.”