Customers are upset as city boutique closes

LOSS OF POST OFFICE IN PLYMSTOCK WAS BIG BLOW

- WILLIAM TELFORD

A PLYMOUTH fashion boutique is to close after less than five years, leaving customers dismayed.

Blame Lily has been a colourful addition to The Broadway, in Plymstock, since 2019, but owner Graham Stock has decided to shutter the business and it was not Lily he blamed.

He said the fault lay with falling trade, rising rent, online competition, the cost-of-living crisis and the loss of a nearby Post Office. He told The Herald: "It's a shame."

Mr Stock and his wife, Carole, who have both worked in the fashion and jewellery industries, named the boutique after their youngest daughter, Lily. It sold clothing, with many items made in Italy, watches, jewellery, bags, purses, wallets, scarves, gloves, hats and slippers.