Walk bosses say farewell and good luck to store staff
BOSSES at Carmarthen’s St Catherine’s Walk posted a poignant farewell and good luck message to Debenhams staff on their last day at the weekend.
The store, along with the Debenhams branch in Llanelli’s Parc Trostre Retail Park, closed on Sunday.
They were among the first wave of stores to shut as part of the retail giant’s final weeks in business.
The department store giant collapsed last year but reopened 97 of its shops last month to allow for a final closing down sale, with up to 80% off fashion and home products.
All stores are expected to be closed by May 15.
Debenhams will operate online only when stores permanently close their doors after being bought by Boohoo in January this year in a deal worth £55 million.
Posting on Facebook on Sunday, St Catherine’s
Walk paid tribute to the staff as it said goodbye to Debenhams, which has been a staple of the shopping centre since it opened in April 2010.
The Facebook post read: “We’re saying farewell to our Debenhams store as they officially close their doors for the final time today (May 2).
“We would like to say a massive thank you to all of the Debenhams staff that have been a part of St Catherine’s Walk over the last 10 years – we’re going to miss you!”
At the heart of St Catherine’s Walk for the past 11 years has been the sprawling Debenhams store.
It made Carmarthen the
‘go-to’ shopping area west of Swansea, one with the pulling power to draw thousands of people from Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion in the west and Llanelli to the east.
Even people in Swansea and beyond were heading there for a change of scene when the store opened.
The past 12 months in the face of the Covid-19
pandemic has been tough on the retail sector.
However, town leaders have been quick to say that the demise of Debenhams nationally was always on the cards and that the pandemic simply speeded it up.
River Island, Fat Face, Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Accessorize, Monsoon and Burger King have all gone from Carmarthen since March last year. The majority of those were located in St Catherine’s Walk, which has now seen its biggest asset being ripped away.
Of course, talks are under way and several irons are apparently in the fire in relation to what could become of the now empty Debenhams unit.
The coming months will tell us what exactly the future holds for the site.