Another big name store is closing its Spalding branch, leaving a prominent town centre building with an uncertain future.
Robert Goddard, selling high end fashion, put a sign out bidding farewell to the town at the weekend.
A sign outside the store said it was “with a heavy heart that we must announce the closure of this store.
“We are permanently thankful for the support of our loyal customers and our dedicated team, and we will deeply miss being part of the Spalding community.”
The shop’s opening hours changed in the summer to a five-day week, from Tuesday to Saturday, but there was no indication of a potential closure.
The group entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) last June in a bid to save money.
It had a total of ten stores at the time and stated in the trade press there would be no closures of stores as a result.
It was also said staff would not be affected by the CVA which the company said it required to reduce fixed costs and overheads.
Dating back to 1895, the first store opened in King’s Lynn under the name of George Goddard. When his grandson died, two sons inherited a store each, with Robert taking the Wisbech shop and using his own name.
In March 2008 the company’s Wisbech store was taken over by Oliver Tookman and the company’s expansion soon followed.
There are now branches, according to the company website, in Lincoln, Wisbech, Huntingdon, Harlow, Camberley, Hitchen, Newbury, St Albans, Leamington Spa, Biggleswade, and Bishop’s Stortford.
The head office is listed as being in Bury St Edmunds. The Newbury branch is also set to close in March. It closed its Rushden Lakes store last February.
Robert Goddard was contacted for comment but nothing was received at the time of going to press.
Documents submitted to Company’s House last autumn showed creditors were owed a total of £931,046 with the largest sum to a company called Arkle Finance – £189,886.
The document lodged with companies house, a supervisor’s progress report in June last year, shows South Holland District Council was also owed £3,430 and the Hampshire Trust Bank owed £102,855.
