End of an Era for Henley Villa

This week Henley Villa has put up ‘closing down sale’ notices up on the window.  When I visited yesterday there were only a few items left on the shelves.  Many customers were coming into the shop saying to the owner Dave that they were really sorry to see the shop closing and that it was an end of a era. The shop was opened in 1971 by Dave’s father and originally the shop had an upstairs too.  Dave said, “We are closing because of the changing face of the high street and internet shopping – many shops are now just a showroom for customers to look and buy elsewhere.”

On a positive note, Alison Burch who runs St. Audrey’s gift shop on Duke Street said “Times are difficult but we are looking forward to Costa Coffee opening and bringing more footfall down this street. We are also excited about the launch of our website in October to increase our revenue.”  She has some lovely things in the shop from jewellery to homeware, baby clothes to cards.

Please support our local independent shops in town – they really need your business to survive.