CATHEDRAL Square boutique REBA (left) will close its doors for the last time on January 11, 2014. On January 3 Rachel Parkin sent a message to her customers via her email list and posted it on her blog.
We have taken a small extract of Rachel’s blog and reproduced it here because we think she has some important things to say.
This feels like too little too late from us. We haven’t featured Reba on this site before.
We would like you to click this link and read Rachel’s message in full. But here’s her introduction to get you started:
WHEN I opened Reba way way back in 1994 as a young 24 year old, I wanted to bring something different to the city. I fell in love with the building, its vaulted ceilings, stone walls and air of timelessness. My logic was, if you’re going to spend all day somewhere it should be somewhere beautiful. I’ve never regretted my choice.
Fast forward 19 years. While Reba has had many incarnations it has always offered something a bit different from the norm, either handmade, beautiful, quirky, or from a small label or company. I’m a firm believer in the “have nothing that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful” adage.
Sadly, it’s the end of our time here in Peterborough, a city that has for the most part been kind to us and supported us with enthusiasm. For many people reading this, this really won’t register as important in the grand scheme of life and of course it’s not really up there with finding a cure for incurable diseases or anything so noble, but it is, in my estimation at least, the end of an era, and not just for my little shop.
It’s an embittered and embattled time for small independent retailers, rents are way out of line with the footfall that’s a daily reality on our high street, business rates are unbelievably high and all this against the backdrop of the highest internet usage in Europe means that it’s no longer reasonable for us to continue in Peterborough.
Facing our 20th year of trading, taking the decision to exit our lease has been a difficult and emotional one for all of us concerned. We would like to thank our staff, our suppliers and of course we’d like to thank the people of Peterborough and the surrounding areas, who have supported us for the past 19 years. We’ve had a blast and we’re so grateful to have been part of your lives. We wish you the very best.
Finally, I’d like to thank the local media who have always been very supportive of us and the council. If you’re out and about shopping, please support the other indie retailers in the city.
We would like the farewell for Reba to be a celebration of our 19 year history, so if you are in the city centre before the 11th January please stop by to check out the sale and say goodbye!
Goodbye from Rachel and the Reba girls.
Please read the whole message here: http://rebaonline.blogspot.co.uk/