Our town received a blow today with news the department shop containing Toyworld, Mensland and Sportspower will be closing by May 30.
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The shop is offering 30% off all items in an effort to clear stock before the scheduled closure but owner Craig Lambert was adamant the hard decision is not a sign of decline more generally for Katherine.
"This place has been here in one form or another for 30 years. I shopped here as a kid, that's why we bought it," Mr Lambert said.
"It's an incredibly hard decision, I don't want to be responsible for shutting something that's been here for so long.
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"This isn't just a COVID-19 story, online shopping and changes to consumer behaviour have put us under pressure for a long time and the store needs real energy to adapt, to move into online formats and we're not at a stage where we can give it that.
"Overall, I don't want people to take what we're doing as a wider view of the town, I own Mitre 10 as well so I'm still invested in this town, our future is here and this town is really well placed to get through all this," Mr Lambert said.
Mr Lambert says COVID-19 was just the straw that broke the camel's back, as pre-existing plans to sell the business on fell through due to the crisis.
"The plan was always to try and sell it and if it didn't work out then to close," he said.
"Originally we thought we would get through via the government subsidies available but the fact we own Mitre 10 as well means we could only access one grant for us an entity.
"Mitre 10 is going well at the moment but the future is opaque so we just can't have one business subsidising the other," Mr Lambert said.
Among the five staff who will be losing their jobs is Assistant Manager Pauline Gage, who has worked at the location for over 30 years.
"The original owners were Joyce and Tony Adams, they started it off in either '88 or '89," she said.
"I've seen three generations come through here - people and then their children and their grandchildren so that make's it hard.
"I want to thank Tanya, Craig and Debbie because they've supported the staff all the way through and done everything they possibly can to keep things going.
"I don't know what I'll do just yet but I'm 100% certain I'll be in Katherine. This is our home and I love it here," Pauline said.
Craig Lambert's sentiment was the same: that Katherine will rally like it always does.
"I want to thank everyone for the support we've received, it's uplifting for us and it's a big help on a few different levels," he said.
"This is a tough town, it rallies when it needs to and we're in the best region of the best country to get through this," Mr Lambert said.
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