A BELOVED gift shop has closed after 44 years – as gutted customers wept for the loss of their “amazing” store.
The Emporium sold a wide array of clothes, jewellery and toys, but a sorry sign in the doorway recently revealed “we are closed.”
The Emporium on St Johns Street in Wiltshire had been a staple of Devizes’ Retail scene for decades.
The property had been marketed by Stibbard Property for £245,000 and a listing on Rightmove says it is currently “under offer.”
However, the firms website now lists the shop as “sold.”
According to the Emporium’s Facebook, the closure was announced in February and shut for good on March 7.
“The Emporium is closing down…All stock now half price!”, the February post read.
Hundreds of fans jumped to the comment section to share their thoughts.
One person said: “I’m totally gutted, my favourite shop with such lovely staff.”
Followed by a second: “This is so sad and such a huge loss to Devizes.”
Then a third said: “So sad. The end of a very long era with such happy memories.”
A fourth person pointed out the difficulty of online competition.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Iconic department store follows Macy’s and reveals it’s ‘forced’ to close down in weeks after ‘more than a century'” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6369060183112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]They said: “So sad but shops can’t compete with online…not enough people use local…”
Then a fifth said: “Oh my gosh, this was a staple of my childhood, so sad you are now closing, it’s live to be able to visit, but can’t see myself visiting home soon.
“Thank you for all the years you have been there.”
In March, a second post by The Emporium read: “This is our last week in the shop.
“We will close our doors for the final time on Friday 7th March.
“All remaining stock items are now £1 or less.”
Teresa Garraud opened the shop in 1981 and ran it until retiring in 2019.
The owners of the last decade Kate Suter and Kelly Harford reinvented it.
They gave it a new lick of white paint and offered luxury gift items through the adjoining K Collection shop, but made an effort to honour the spirit Ms Garraud created, and has always been known and loved for.
