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AN iconic shoe shop has permanently closed after nearly 200 years of trading, as its heartbroken owner said “it’s all I’ve ever done.”
The beloved Coventry business shuttered its doors last Friday, marking the end of an era.
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Charles Ager had been selling shoes in the city for 185 years prior to its devastating closure.
Its saddened owner, Chris Hart, from Kenilworth, told CoventryLive he was “heartbroken” to be closing in the city where it was first established.
He said: “All I have done is sold shoes.
“We have all seen it happening over the last 10 years. Since COVID, it accelerated even faster, the decline of people buying from shops.
“We could not afford to keep going.”
The businessman, 60, expressed his gratitude towards his customers and the support they have shown over the years.
On its final day of trading, a handful of loyal shoppers paid a final visit to the store, with some said to be in tears.
As they prepared to close the doors on Friday, Mr Hart explained that they were visited by a woman who had managed the city business for 40 years.
She told them that seeing the shop empty was heartbreaking.
While reflecting on the store’s history, Mr Hart reminisced on its famous back-to-school sales which would see large crowds rush to the shop.
One employee, Bernadette Gregory, also expressed how much she will miss the store, after working there for more than 20 years.
Mr Hart said he remains optimistic about the future despite the closure of the Coventry branch.
He added that the Kenilworth and Swadlincote stores are doing “very well.”
Founded in 1840, the popular store was located on Corporation Street.
It will soon be replaced by a new cafe called Chocoberry.
Another employee, Karen Garrett, said the business closing highlights the challenges that city retailers currently face.
She pointed to the closure of major retailers like Debenhams and TJ Hughes, which contributed to the decline in foot traffic on Corporation Street.
This comes after countless other high street retailers have faced strings of closures.
The Sun has reported that more big name chains will shutter stores for good in September.
Growing pressure on retailers has been attributed to the soaring running costs and the conveniences of shopping online.
Once bustling high streets are now paying the price with many becoming eerily quiet.
Among the stores to face more closures are Poundland, Hobbycraft, The Original Factory Shop, River Island, New Look and Marks and Spencer.
Retail pain in 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
