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01
Dec 2020
Ripon's only department store closes it doors
Ripon's only department store has closed its doors after the second COVID-19 lockdown wiped out a crucial month of trading.
Owner Mark Butler, who set up the 'House of Independent Retailers' seven years ago, told the Stray Ferret:
The Fishergate store, which provided sales space for 52 independent retailers, ranging from those selling a single product to a section dedicated to womenswear, was located in the building previously occupied by the Philip Hall department store.
Its award-winning concept, which earned a national prize for innovative retailing, gave start-up and other small retailers low risk means of entry to the market, with affordable rents and low overheads.
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Mr Butler, who has received hundreds of messages of goodwill since news of the closure was shared on social media, said:
He pointed out:
After the first three-month lockdown was lifted in June, Mr Butler said that survival of the business would be reliant on staycationers coming to campsites and holiday lets in the Ripon area.
He hoped that people who had not been able to go on overseas holidays, would have money to spend in the shops, but the footfall did not materialise and this, combined with the loss of day-trip customers arriving by coach, dealt another blow.
As he prepares to lock the premises for good, he had a message, saying:
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