Jin Kaur, aged 52 and Rana Singh, aged 55, took over running the post office on Nottingham Road in 2004 and have since built up loyal customer base, many of whom have also become good friends.
The pair are leaving to take on running a post office in Long Eaton but the venue they are leaving behind is not going anywhere as it has new owners who will be expanding the business and creating a local store with the Post Office counter.
Jin said: “I will miss the people the most, the customers, the staff, serving everybody, it’s just been a pleasure.
“We came here when our eldest two children were eight and five and we’ve had two more children since then – they were known as the Post Office babies – and they are now 18 and 16.
"We’ve had two graduations from here, a wedding from here and a funeral.”
Rana added: “The Post Office should be the heart of the community and that’s how it’s been for us, we’ve made many friends and seen our children and grandchildren grow up here.”The new sub-postermaster is Harry Arikarin, who wants to keep every aspect of the heart of the community feel Jin and Rana have built up and add to it by giving customers even more to offer as part of the Local Plus shops brand with groceries and essential goods alongside the Post Office counter, adding more retail.
Harry said: “Jin has done a great job with this post office and we want to take that on and make it better by making it more of a general store, extending our opening hours from 7am to 9.30pm and becoming even more a part of the community.
Tong Sanghera, Post Office regional manager, said: “We are the pillar of the community and we’re changing model all the time and with what Harry is planning for it, we’ll be open seven days a week and offering even more for customers.”
Jin added: “I would like to thank all our customers for their support down the years and for keeping us open at a time when the Post Office has suffered some negative publicity, at the heart of the Post Office are the people that run post offices and they are a vital part of the community, always giving service with a smile and they’re the ones who are part of people’s lives.