Lismore is losing another one of its "institutions" with the imminent closure of a neighbourhood supermarket that first opened as a tuck shop in the 1930s and is fondly remembered by generations of school kids.

Owner Christine Lancaster told the Lismore App she had decided not to renew her lease on the FoodWorks supermarket on Leycester St - which is still commonly referred to as “Menins” - and would be closing the business at the end of the month.

“The business has been on the market but there's been very little interest in it, so at this point in time it's the option I have,” she said.

According to the book Lismore's Corner Shops by Dorothy Edwards*, the premises were purchased by a Mrs Cusack in 1937 who made and served food to the Catholic school students under the name Cusack's Tuck Shop until the 1950s.

Several families owned the business over the years including the Granatellis and the Chelis, with the longest proprietors being the Menins who ran it for more than three decades.

“It’s sad for our family to hear that it’s now closing,” Robert Menin, now co-owner of LJ Hooker Real Estate, told the Lismore App.

Ms Lancaster and her late husband bought the business 10 years ago.

However, her husband passed away only a few years after they got into the business and Ms Lancaster has had it on the market since then.

“It's been a slog for the time that I've been here on my own,” she said.

“Basically at this point in time my decision is it's time for me to worry about me and look after me.

“If I was to stay I'd have to take a lease for another five years and I really don't think it would be feasible for me to do that.

“That's why I've decided at this point in time to cut my losses and move on.”

Ms Lancaster said that most of her family lived up in Queensland so she was planning to join them there once the business was sold.

“What I do after that I have no idea to be quite truthful,” she said. “I won't be going back into business for quite some time, if I ever do.”

Despite the imminent closure, the business is still for sale, however Ms Lancaster believes it needs a family to run it successfully.

“You've got your regulars and it's an icon,” she said. “You have customers who come in who remember when they were schoolkids buying their bread rolls and all that stuff.

“You still have that 3.15pm rush where you have 50 or 60 kids bolt through the door and you think: ‘oh, school's out!’

“It's an institution in that way but it's also one of those things, it needs to have more than one person trying to run it. You need to have it as a family concern.”

Ms Lancaster said she was proud to have hung on as long as she had but sometimes felt disappointed she couldn’t keep going.

“I'm tired,” she said. “The long hours and full weeks have caught up with me.

“It's time for me to look after me and try and see a better side of life.

“I do appreciate what the community has done for me and I'm going to miss some of them.”

She said it would be nice if over the final weeks the store’s regulars would come and say “hi” as they were buying their regular groceries.

“I'm trying to keep it all together,” she said. “We'll get there.”

The business is still listed for lease with North Coast Commercial Real Estate.

See the website for more details: http://northcoastcommercial.com.au/commercial/20-leycester-street-lismore-nsw-2480/

* Thanks to Geoff Kerr from the Historical Society for his help with the research.