BARSBY’S Department Store will close as soon as its stock runs out.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The famous store has operated in Kempsey for 106 years.
Ken Barsby, the grandson of founder John Barsby, announced in October that the owners were looking to sell the store as a going concern.
If a buyer could not be found the store would be forced to close, he said.
Store manager Graeme Barsby said yesterday that there was no firm date set for the store to close.
“We will continue to trade until we have stock to sell and when that is gone, whenever that is, will be the end," he said.
“But customers are still coming in and buying things and saying their goodbyes and chatting to the staff.”
Ken Barsby said competition from internet trading and specialty stores had made life difficult for the traditional department stores.
He said the current shareholders and management were not of an age where they could devote the necessary resources to the task of drastically altering the current sales techniques to compete with internet retailers.
He thanked the staff for their hard work and loyalty, noting that between them they had a total of 155 years service to Barsby’s.
This included 50 years of service by Joan Fitzgerald from the fabric and haberdashery department, who started working at the store straight form school in 1964.
An advertisement for the final closing down sale will appear in The Macleay Argus on Tuesday.