Clothes store to close but not sister homeware shop next door

THE clothing arm of the Vinegar Hill shop in Henley is closing down after more than four years.

The final day of trading at
VH & Co in Duke Street will be next Saturday but the adjoining homeware and lifestyle shop is to stay open.

Managing director Richard Austin said the fashion side of the business had always underperformed and that the coronavirus pandemic had accelerated the decision to close.

The shop, which took over the old Hubbledays store in February 2017, has three staff which the company hopes to find alternative roles for to avoid redundancies.

Vinegar Hill was founded 22 years ago, with the first branch opening in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Mr Austin said: “We have several other shops in the group in equally lovely market towns but we have a limited fashion offering and only three overall.

“The core of the business is the homeware and lifestyle side. We opened in Henley six years ago but have never performed to the level we would have liked to on the fashion side.

“We have created a really good local following and a destination with the lifestyle shop.

“I think we would have given it slightly longer if it was not for covid but in the end that was the catalyst for us making the call. Things were incredibly challenging over the last year with us having to be closed as non-essential retail.

“We didn’t know at the time if there were going to be more lockdowns and we get a lot of our products six months in advance.

“If you get it wrong and then you can’t open, it has a big impact further down the line. The impact on our cash flow has been huge.”

The lease on the unit ran for five years, which was another reason for making a decision now.

Mr Austin said: “It wasn’t an easy decision because we have never closed one of our stores before.

“Prior to covid, rather than closing, we were looking at what we could do to enhance the store and considering further marketing.

“We did try various things over the years but things never picked up and we never got the footfall we hoped for.

“Henley has been through challenging times in terms of footfall generally and traffic can be a problem.”

The homeware shop, which opened at the former Browns store in 2015, will continue to sell jewellery and fashion accessories.