'WE'RE going out on a celebratory note.' Those are the words of a Winchester clothes shop owner who has decided to draw down the blinds for the last time.
Mandy Macartney has owned Pavilion since 2007 and has steered it through the pandemic, economic uncertainly and personal tragedy.
However, the shop will close for the last time on Saturday, July 13 as Mandy and shop manager Kelly Venus have decided to retire.
The shop started life in High Street, opposite the horse and rider sculpture. It moved to The Square in 2010.
“I've just decided to retire after 17 years in the city through thick and thin, the time is right for me to step back. The shop's doing very well, we got through the pandemic. It's a purely personal decision,” said Mandy, 60, who lives in Popham.
“I just want a bit of time to visit places. I want to do some travelling, I have a lot of family who live abroad and I just want time to be able to see them and not to be tied. Being tied to the business makes it hard to do the things I want to do.”
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In 2020 Mandy was hit by a personal tragedy as her husband and business partner Ken Macartney was killed by a falling tree whilst driving home in stormy weather.
She said: “The elephant in the room is that I set the business up with my husband in 2007. He was killed in 2020 in one of the storms when a tree fell on the car which was a tragedy. The business was a joint venture. Six weeks after he died, we went into lockdown, so 2020 was not the best year of my life. But we came through it and we've survived. It has just been so wonderful to be part of the city. We're going out on a celebratory note.”
Mandy added: “I will definitely miss being part of the city because you obviously get to know everybody, and a lot of our customers have become friends. We've seen them through families, babies, all sorts of things, so you get a very personal connection.
“The business has done well and it's just time for me to have a bit of fun myself.”
Mandy said that the unit will continue as a clothes shop but didn't know exactly who was moving in.
Pavilion will close for good on Saturday, July 13.
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