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19
Dec 2024
Another Harrogate independent shop to close after "hardest year yet"
A well-known Harrogate gift shop is to close in the new year.
Sophie Likes on Beulah Street is an independent boutique owned by Sophie Hartley.
The shop will close on January 26, 2025, after 11 years of trading.
The business, which employs five staff, is next door to the Disappearing Chin, which also recently announced its closure.
The Stray Ferret has also reported on the impending closures of Chaos and Baytree Interiors in the Victoria Shopping Centre in recent days.
Ms Hartley told the Stray Ferret it was the right time for her to “begin a new chapter" while emphasising how difficult retail had become.
She said:
I have been here for 11 years, and I have three small children. I decided it was time to focus on my family and simplify my life.
It was a tough decision to make but it has been a difficult year for retail. It has been hard when there are challenges beyond your control.
We have survived challenges like the fire on the street and covid, but this year has been the hardest yet, it has been much quieter than normal.
My lease has also finished, and it has all come at the right time. There is nothing to blame, no issues with the landlord or anything like that, it is just the right circumstances.
Sophie Hartley, owner of Sophie Likes
After Christmas, there will be a closing down sale to clear stock.
Ms Hartley added that at the moment Sophie Likes will not continue online but adds that it’s “not goodbye forever,” and she will continue to focus on her second business, Decked Out.
She said:
It was my first baby really and this is more of a break. I’ll miss doing what I love and having a shop was always a dream of mine.
I will be really sad to leave the high street, and it hasn’t been a quick or easy decision to make.
I will miss that everyday in the shop is different, I will miss my customers, supplying nice things and offering something different.
I am so grateful for everyone’s support, and I am grateful for the experience that I have enjoyed. I can now discover a new chapter.
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