Two York shops have shut in recent days and another is set to follow.
One of the retailers is leaving after concerns that the city is changing, with more emphasis on food, drink and chain stores, and less on independent shops.
Another has gone after recording a decline in sales and struggling to compete with products from overseas.
Going
Asquith’s Jewellers on Goodramgate has been trading in the city for 24 years. But the lease is up and the company has decided not to renew.
It will not be relocated to new premises in York and will close with the loss of three jobs by April 3.
Shop manager Craig Foster said: “The street isn’t the same as it used to be.
“The council are trying to get independents out of York because, for some reason, they want to have big chains, coffee shops and wine bars.
“York isn’t like that. People love to come to York for the independents.”
Family-run, Asquith’s will keep its remaining shop in Darlington open. In the meantime there are lots of bargains to be had in the York branch’s closing down sale.
Gone
Wool and craft shop Ramshambles closed the doors to its Shambles shop for the final time on Saturday (February 18).
The shop has been trading there since May 2010. Before that it was home to a similar shop, Sheepish.
The Ramshambles team posted on Facebook that their lease is up and they have decided not to renew.
It brought a wave of dismay and good wishes from customers. “I’m so sorry to read that you are closing. I’ll miss your shop greatly. Thanks for all the help and amazing service over the years,” wrote Sarah Graham.
“You have been one of the highlights of my visits to York. You’ve had a small and presumably expensive space. You’ve used it innovatively,” added Anita Linsdell.
Gone
Earlier Leicester-based clothing firm The Sweater Shop had closed its Low Petergate branch.
It had returned to York in December 2013. At the time, operations manager Ben de Zille Butler told YorkMix “We’ll stay as long as we can in York.”
After it closed he told us that there had been “a steady decline in trade year on year so it was just not viable anymore”.
Ben added: “We just aren’t able to compete on price with production from overseas or from the factories in the UK who are illegally paying below the national wage – £3 an hour in some cases.”