A business in York that has served generations of families will be closing its doors after 43 years of trading.
Paul Stride, located in Kathryn Avenue at Monks Cross, specialises in children’s nursery products, including prams, baby clothes, and high chairs.
Sadly, the owner Kevin Clarkson, 61, has been forced to retire due to a recent illness diagnosis, which has meant that things have had to move quickly.
Kevin told YorkMix: “I’ve been diagnosed with an illness, and my consultant says I have to give up work. So it wasn’t planned, I’d still be here otherwise.”
He was diagnosed in February, and Paul Stride will be closing at the end of this month (April).
The childrens nursery retailer originally opened as a department store in 1982, trading on Acomb Front Street.
“We were a small department store initially selling footwear, womens clothes, children’s clothes, wool, hosiery, lingerie, as well as pans and bits and pieces. So obviously we did all sorts at that stage,” Kevin said.
In 2000, Kevin decided to focus exclusively on nursery products and relocated to the site on Kathryn Avenue in 2003, due to better parking and logistics.
Kevin has always enjoyed his work and would have liked to continue running the business if it weren’t for his health issues.
Unfortunately, he can’t hand over the business to someone else due to the time it would take to market, among other administrative tasks.
Kevin described feeling “cheesed off” about the situation.
“I enjoy it. I have always enjoyed it. That’s why I stuck with it, it’s a nice business to be in. You meet a lot of nice people at a nice time of their life, an exciting time of life, and we’re very lucky.
“We’ve done it long enough that we see people who they came in as pregnant, and now they’ve been coming back to me as grandparents to be,” Kevin said.
The business is now holding a closing down sale.
“We are having a retirement SALE with plenty of bargains available in store and online. We are selling off display models as well as other stock items,” it says on Facebook,
“Don’t worry any prams currently on order in store will still be supplied as normal. In fact it’s not too late to place your order for new baby items for immediate delivery at offer prices not found online. Come see us soon remember we are OPEN 10am – 5pm Monday-Saturday.”
The post received over a hundred comments, with many customers expressing their sadness while wishing them well.
Some of the comments read:
“I hope Kevin will be OK. He’s been an absolute gem over the years with prams, car seats and everything else child related (and my parents when I was little!)”
“So sorry to hear this sad news. Kevin sold us our very first pram and car seat setup with our firstborn and we returned again when it was time to size up car seats on 2 more occasions. Very sad to see this little gem of a shop go but understand 100% that health comes first. Thinking of you all xx”
“Such sad news! I’ve always had pushchairs and car seats from here, always had excellent service. A sad loss for the local area.”
Kevin remarked that he will miss his loyal customers as well as his colleagues, but is trying to focus on the positives as he approaches retirement.
“One of the advantages to doing it now is that I can just spend a bit of time with my wife rather than being at work all the time, as she would say I’ve been for the last 40 years,” he told YorkMix.
They’re planning on plenty of dog walks, getting out in the fresh air, and spending time with their children and grandchildren.
Paul Stride’s closing down sale will run until the end of the month. For more information, visit their website here.