Carlisle’s Hoopers bids “a fond farewell” on its final day of trading
“Goodbye Sale” at Hoopers Carlisle
Hoopers, the upmarket Carlisle department store whose closure was announced in May, is to finally shut at the close of trade today (Saturday 25 August).
As reported by BBC News, notices went up instore and on the Hoopers website yesterday, with a ‘Goodbye Sale’ post on the website wishing customers “A fond farewell from us all at Hoopers xx”.
Hoopers, Carlisle (9 May 2012)
Regular readers will know that talks had been ongoing for the last three months between Hoopers and the Langholm-based Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, whose owner, Philip Day, had been looking to take over the Castle Street premises and retain it as an independent department store. An original planned closing date of 23 June was postponed while those discussions continued.
Though reports suggested that Day’s preference was “to avoid the store closing and staff being laid off before any takeover”, it seems that Hoopers’ closure today isn’t the end of the story. A licensing application for the Hoopers premises, received by Carlisle City Council on 31 July, is seeking a “premises licence to include new restaurant”, and though the information published on the Carlisle City Council website does not specify the applicant, the BBC’s report claims that it is indeed the EWM Group.
Hoopers Carlisle Final Day
So, it’s likely to be a day of mixed emotions over in Cumbria: sadness for staff and customers that Hoopers’ presence in the city is coming to an end after just six years, but optimism that a new chapter for the historic building – which has housed a department store for over a century – may be just around the corner.
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