A Christian bookshop in
Norwich was yesterday (June 19) stripped of all its stock in the latest chapter of the on-going tale of its takeoever and closure.
The removal of hundreds of books, CDs, candles and gifts from
St Michael at Plea attracted interest from passers-by and potential customers unaware the store had closed for good at the weekend.
The former
SPCK shop, which opened more than four years ago in the redundant church on the corner of Bank Plain and Queen's Street, is one of 24 across the country which were taken over by an American trust in 2006.
But the
St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG), run by two Texan brothers, was unable to change SPCK's failing fortunes and recently declared its trading arm bankrupt.
It is understood that disagreements between SSG and former SPCK staff began last year and five workers sacked from the Norwich store in February are among about 20 claiming unfair dismissal.
Most former SPCK stores face an uncertain future, with
Chichester remaining open and accepting the consignment of goods from Norwich and other failed shops.
The
Forget-Me-Not Café, which was run by a separate manager and a team of volunteers, closed two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the
Norwich Historic Churches Trust will continue to care for St Michael at Plea and has received three applications from potential tenants - two for bookshops and one for a wine bar.
Yesterday the church was still stuffed with saleable goods, despite a half price sale staffed by agency workers.
Rory Quinn, chairman of the historic churches trust, supervised the removal and said the demise of the business had been very disappointing for its customers.
“It was a meeting place as well as a bookshop,” he said.
“It had become an institution with people from outside of the city coming here and using the bookshop and café. It became a club for this area, for Norfolk and north Suffolk.
“Removing all the fixtures and fittings today will make the church look really empty but this also gives other people the opportunity to make whatever they want with it.
“Our goal with redundant churches is that they have community uses and we hope this can be well used again in the future.”
The closure means Norwich has no Christian bookshops.
John Betts, former chairman of
Transforming Norwich, has set up an initiative to secure the long-term future of Christian literature in the city.
Click here to read our earlier story on the closure.
Pictured above is Rory Quinn, Norwich Historic Churches Trust chairman, outside the former bookshop.Story and picture courtesy of
www.edp24.co.uk