A HIGH-STREET jewellery store is set to close its doors for the final time in a matter of days.
Loyal customers of Jane Allen Jewellers were distraught to hear the update and have been mourning to imminent loss.
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The shop in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, broke the bad news with a customer notice on Facebook.
The owners wrote: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be closing down completely on Saturday 29th of March.”
This will not be the first time the store has closed down, however.
The statement continued: “As many of you will be aware we closed last year and reopened mostly on Saturdays.
“Unfortunately due to other commitments we are unable to commit to opening the shop going forward as it is not viable to be open for only one day per week.”
From the end of March, the store will not even open up on Saturdays.
But there is some good news for customers.
The jewellers wrote: “All items are in the sale, please pop into the shop to see all the bargains and keep an eye out on [Facebook] posts for extra special offers.”
Whilst the overwhelming emotion was one of sadness, the shopkeepers also showed their gratitude for the years of loyal custom.
The statement said: “We would like to thank all of our customers throughout the many years we have been trading in town for your loyal custom, support. and friendships. Many of our customers have become friends.”
And finally, attending to a last bit of business, the shop reminded customers that all repairs and deposits would have to be collected before the shop shuts up.
Customers expressed their sorrow with sad faces in reaction to the post.
The shop has had a rocky time in recent months.
A post back in October 2024 announced that after “a long time closed”, the store would be reopening on “selected days”.
The doors opened on Saturdays from 10 until 4.
The spot was much-loved by locals, partly because its payment policy made quality jewellery available to more people.
It ran a friendly system where customers could buy an item with a 20 per cent deposit up front, and the rest of the price within eight weeks.
The shop wouldn’t even charge any interest on the delayed payments.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.