Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Annie calls it a day after 35 years at community shop
Customers bade an emotional farewell to shopkeeper Annie Patel at the weekend as she bowed out after more than 35 years serving the local community.
Annie Patel, 62, bought The Pilgrims Store, in Merchants Way, Canterbury, back in 1982.
She ran it with her husband until he died in 1991, after which she took over the reins and has been in charge ever since.
And on Saturday her time behind the till finally came to an end as she was joined by many of the customers she has served for so many years to bid her a tearful farewell.
The mother-of-two said: “I will not miss the shop, but I will miss the people. I love them all. Any emergency I had or any problems that happened at any moment in time, I knew the customers would always come and help me.”
And having seen her sons Dipesh and Amit grow up, she has also seen her customers transform, too.
She said: “I remember children coming into the shop and now they come in with their own babies.” After retiring from the shop, Mrs Patel now intends to spend much more time with her three-year-old granddaughter, who lives in London.
She said: “I have all the time to travel there now. This is like a new life for me.”
But despite her two sons living in London, she has no plans to leave Canterbury.
She said: “I have all my friends here. We first moved to Sturry in 1982 and bought our first shop, and it has worked out brilliantly.”
And with extra time on her hands, Mrs Patel now intends to finally take up some new hobbies – including attending pottery classes.
She said: “The lessons were always in the morning or the afternoon so I could never go to them, but now I can.
“I have so much time now, I won’t know what to do with myself.”
She’ll not be taking it completely easy though – now Mrs Patel hopes to help out part-time in a charity shop.