A hardware store closes
Not just any hardware store -- this is really sad news.
From the
London Daily Mail:
Britain's oldest ironmongers is beaten by the recession (and B&Q) and closes after 480 years
It survived the English Civil War, two world wars, two depressions and three recessions, but after 480 years Britain's oldest hardware store is finally having to hang up its pots and pans.
King Henry VIII was on the throne when Gill & Co became the country's first ironmongers in Oxford in 1530.
The independent shop has been in business ever since, trading six days-a-week through the reigns of 20 monarchs and 76 prime ministers.
But the shop has become the latest victim of the global recession and will close its doors for the final time next month when the current lease on the building runs out.
Gill & Co's owner Victor Hunt, 48, today blamed the recession and larger chains like B&Q and Homebase for the store's demise.
He said: 'Gill's is the oldest ironmonger's in England, so we are coming to the end of an era.
'Sales have declined in recent years and we are moving out before we start to lose money.
'Our client base is the over-45s and some customers are considerably older than that. Inevitably, as time goes by, we lose a few.
'The younger customers seem happier these days to drive to B&Q and other out-of-town stores.
'It is such a shame that the shop must close but unfortunately that is the climate small businesses are facing now.'
Gill & Co originally provided ironware for the local residents when it opened its doors almost half-a-millennium ago, and through the centuries it it has stocked chimney sweep brushes, scythes, iron nails and hay rakes.
But I am calling bullshit on Mr. Hunt's managerial skills:
But Mr Hunt, who bought the store ten years ago and also runs a hardware store in Chipping Norton, said that despite the changes customer numbers had gradually fallen.
I am sorry Victor but in my corner of the world, there are some
amazing and
energetic hardware stores doing great business. You purchased a significant bit of history and are pissing it away after ten years because it did not fit into your business model.
Victor Hunt -- Screw You.
Posted by DaveH at July 8, 2010 11:08 PM