YESTERDAY'S announcement that Dressers was to close its long-established shops in Darlington and Northallerton will be a shock not just to staff and customers but also to every other family-run retail business in the area. If Dressers can't make a go of it, who can?

But Dressers' closure is perhaps not the portent of doom for the high street it might appear. The company's statement about the closure begs a number of questions. But it is understood that while both shops were profitable, the family had been made a very attractive offer by Terrace Hill.

The company has made it clear that running a independent business like Dressers had become increasingly difficult in the modern trading world. No doubt Terrace Hill, and the national retail chains likely to take over the two premises, will make more profit per square foot of shopping space than Dressers managed to latterly.

That is a sad fact of modern life. It is regrettable for the long-serving staff made redundant and regrettable for the shoppers who have enjoyed the service they have provided.

But the family behind Dressers who have taken this decision should not be blamed for accepting the economic reality and consequences of trading in the modern British high street. Only the biggest, and perhaps the smallest, specialist, retailers survive.