BADLY AFFECTED by traffic curbs in an English county town, a shop that has remained utterly unchanged since the last days of Queen Victoria may yet be saved, even though it had been due to close this week.
Last month, the owner, Simon Holloway, decided to close The Period Shop in Warwick, which sells brass fixtures and fittings, following a steady fall in trade in the shop – one of three he owns – over the last three years.
Now, however, global coverage of the Warwickshire shop’s plight has led to a boost in sales, with shop manager Charlie Collett selling more goods in the last four weeks than he has in the last 18 months.
Trade in the town’s high street has steadily fallen following gas pipe-laying and efforts by the local council to put in speed bumps, which have had to be replaced twice already, Mr Collett complained this week.
“It has been a long and sad story. The town has been dug up for gas mains. It has all driven away passing trade.
“It has all put people off from coming into the town. It’s like they don’t want people to shop here,” he told The Irish Times.
The traffic restrictions followed complaints from new arrivals to the town – an increasing occurrence in picturesque English towns, with city-dwellers opting for “life in the country”, he claimed.
“People have bought houses on the high street of a county town and then complained about traffic. We have gone to meetings and made all sorts of suggestions, but we get ignored.”
Despite the boost in sales, Mr Holloway still believes The Period Shop is not a profitable operation, but he is prepared to help Mr Collett to buy the shop’s lease.
Other tenants, however, are interested: “We’ve had people in who want to open up charity shops, but the town is full of charity shops. The only way it will stay like it is if I stay here,” Mr Collett went on.
Local MPs have become involved in the attempt to save the grade-two-listed three-storey building, which still has its original wood-grain wallpaper and faces on to a courtyard dating to the 16th century.
However, Mr Collett faces difficulties, since he would not qualify, as of now, for lower rates because he would be taking over an existing business, rather than starting a new one.
“I’ve got days to save it. It has all been pretty chaotic. I want to save it desperately, but I can’t bankrupt myself in the process. I’m looking to see what kind of grants I could get, but they could take years.”
The shop’s closure would affect not just Mr Collett and his part-time colleagues, Ken Green and Alan Wright, who are both pensioners, but also local metal foundries.
“All of our stock is traditionally made. All freshly made from original pieces and most of it is made within 30 miles from here.
“We sell a lot online, so it is not that we have not gone with the times,” he said.
