The only food store on a sprawling Bradford estate is to close - sparking fears it will have a "devastating" effect on vulnerable and elderly residents.

The Co-op store in Buttershaw is to shut in two weeks after staff were reportedly told it was not making a profit.

Residents have launched a desperate bid to save the store - the only one of its kind on the estate - but were yesterday dealt a further blow when it was targeted by ram-raiders. Robbers stole a Vauxhall Cavalier and drove it through a bollard and metal shutters, escaping with wine and spirits in the 2am attack.

Today Peter Eccles, chairman of the Royds Community Association, described the closure as a "bombshell" and said it was a "disaster for Buttershaw".

The Co-op had been expected to move into a large new retail unit planned as part of a new centre for Buttershaw. But the nine staff have now been told the store, in Reevy Road West, will close at noon on Friday, March 21.

"This will have a devastating effect when you think that just around the corner there is a sheltered housing complex with 70 flats and behind it there are 26 new old people's bungalows," said Mr Eccles. "A lot of these people find it impossible to get away from the area and will have no shopping facilities at all."

Councillor Ralph Berry (Lab, Wibsey) said delays in getting the new scheme off the ground may have contributed to the Co-op's decision. But he urged the firm to rethink and claimed the future of the estate - where 600 homes are being built - was bright.

"This is a disaster," he said. "We will be petitioning the Co-op and I expect the Council to be talking to them about the improving prospects for the estate."

At least three petitions are passing around the estate in an effort to persuade the company to change its mind.

Donna Cunningham, 37, a Buttershaw resident for 25 years, said she was shocked.

"I use it every single day and a lot of people's lives depend on it," she said. "It is well used. A lot of people are devastated by this."

Peter Marks, chief executive of United Co-Operatives which owns the Buttershaw store, was unavailable for comment.