One of Chester’s best known market stalls is to cease trading after 60 years.
But the departure of family-run Jim’s Haberdashery from Chester Market has been somewhat soured by the fact that the traders say they were told to leave by WMC Retail, who are managing the city’s new market development.
Annie Hall - whose family members mum Mari, brother David and late father Jim have been running the popular stall ever since the current Chester Market opened five decades ago - said WMC told them they ‘didn’t fit the criteria’ for the new development and that the decision was taken out of their hands.
'A huge wrench'
“We would have kept going but the decision was taken out of our hands,” she told The Chronicle. “Although the market is not what it used to be and it’s never as busy as it used to be in the past, it is still a huge wrench for us to leave.”
Jim’s Haberdashery has been a mainstay of Chester Market for more than half a century, occupying the same stall for 50 years.
It began life when Jim and Mari set up a shoe shop in the former Chester Market building back in the late 1950s and just before the move to the market’s current location in 1967, they started selling the odd bit of haberdashery.
Annie began working on the stall as a Saturday girl and started working there full time after leaving school, and the stall then began to focus solely on haberdashery.
“Over the years we have met so many nice people and made some good friends, so yes I am upset to leave them and the people of Chester,” she said. “I think a lot of people will miss us and I’ll miss them. But things progress and you have to look to the modern world.”
As a family they have seen the market in its ‘glory days’, which Annie says was the late 1970s and early 80s when Chester Infirmary was still there.
“Once that went we lost a lot of customers and then rates changed which also affected things. The place was at its peak before then,” she said.
And Annie’s mum Mari Payne, who at 88 is possibly one of the country’s oldest market traders, said leaving will be a shock to the system and she ‘hasn’t even thought’ about what they will do with all their free time once the stall closes on September 30.
'A joy'
“It will be strange. I’ve seen kids grow up over the years, parents would come with their kids and now the kids have grandchildren. It’s been a joy to serve the people of Chester.”
Annie added: “We would like to thank our loyal customers for all their support over the years and all the laughs they’ve given us. We’ve got no plans to do anything special on our last day. It’ll just be business as usual.”
A Cheshire West and Chester Council spokesperson told The Chronicle: “Now that we have a clear idea of the intentions of the market traders, we are working with those who will relocate to the new market. This has included a series of workshops to help them through a difficult process and we will be issuing layout designs for the new market during late August.
“We have offered those who have been unsuccessful the opportunity to use our market experts to improve their business plans and the option to resubmit their applications. However, we do understand that the move may not suit some of the traders and therefore, we have offered just seven traders a compensation package or a pitch in another council market.
“By leaving in September it gives them a better opportunity to establish a new pitch for Christmas. Any spaces will then be available for new traders to grow their business for the new market.”
