Iconic store closing
Customers were in tears as the closing down sale for Farry’s Fashions started yesterday.
After more than 40 years in Invercargill, the doors will close on September 22 marking the end of an historic business in the city.
Owners Anne Maree Robinson and her daughter, Katy Brazier, decided it was time to close.
Brazier said it was difficult for her to help her mother run the business now that she was living in Christchurch and her mother also wanted to retire to Arrowtown.
The news of the impending closure had drawn many customers back to the store and they had been flat out, Brazier said.
‘‘We’ve had people in tears today,’’ Robinson said.
The mother and daughter have run the business for 12 years.
While they had some interest buyers for the business, they did not end up selling, Brazier said.
Once they decided they wanted out of the business they moved quickly so they could work with their suppliers before the start of the new fashion season, she said.
They were going to wait until the end of the year to close but it did not make sense in the end for them.
They had helped their suppliers find other stores around Invercargill to sell their stock to so people in the city would not miss out.
In the 12 years they had been in business the retail industry had changed considerably.
There had been a noticeable slow decline in business, which they attributed to online shopping, she said.
‘‘It’s definitely not busy like it used to be.’’
They were sad to be parting with Southland and the loyal customers they had in Invercargill who had supported them during the years.
The business has historic links going back more than 40 years, when the business was originally started by the Farry family.
The Farry family has been in the retail business for generations and started with Seba Farry, who opened a department store in Gore in 1937.
Mr Farry’s sons, Gabriel and Tony, then branched out and opened more stores in Invercargill, Dunedin and Wellington.
Brazier and Robinson had bought the Invercargill business from Nicola Farry and her husband Warren Jackson.
‘‘We’ve had people in tears today.’’ Anne Maree Robinson