Last dance for Lana in shop
Dancewear store owner farewells her customers
‘‘ (I WILL MISS) THE CUSTOMERS, BECAUSE YOU REALLY HAVE A CHIT-CHAT WITH EVERYONE.
LANA HAWORTH
NEARLY every Toowoomba dance student who has stepped onto a stage over the past 18 years has been fitted by Lana Haworth in her shop.
The dedicated mother, who entered the industry with no dance experience, celebrated her final day in Dancewear by Lana on Mort St, after nearly two decades in Toowoomba.
Ms Haworth has sold the store to a dance teacher to focus on her family.
Supplying to dance schools in Toowoomba, St George, Goondiwindi, Kingaroy and Dalby, Ms Haworth said she had lost count of the number of children who had walked into her shop with their parents.
“There would have to be thousands of (students over the years),” she said.
“I’ve never danced in my life – it was my daughter who danced and for a time Toowoomba didn’t have a dance shop.
“I decided to open one up and funnily enough another person decided to open up at the same time as me.
“I survived purely through customer service – that was the only thing I had.”
Appropriately enough, Ms Haworth said the customers would be the part of the business she’d miss the most.
“(I will miss) the customers, because you really have a chitchat with everyone,” she said.
“We joke that we almost become like counsellors.”
Ms Haworth said she’d witnessed dance students go on to do great work in the industry, with some even bringing their own children in for outfits.
“Every day has been wonderful, because you’re serving new children all the time,” she said.
“They start off and then you get to watch them develop and now I’m seeing children I fitted bringing in their children.
“There have been a few that I’ve watched go onto bigger things. I always go to the concerts so I can watch them perform.”
Ms Haworth made the decision to leave in June last year, but the full agreement wasn’t finalised until recently.
“It just became evident – I’ve got a wonderful staff member Sarah, and she’s being doing uni and at the end of the year she becomes a school teacher,” she said.
“To try and get good staff is really hard (and) it all just tied together and I decided to leave.”