Cardiff department store 15:17 has closed less than a year after opening on Queen Street in the city centre. The store took over the huge unit from Topshop, which had stood on the street for more than a decade in June last year. However, the store now looks to be closed for good as the company is now being wound up.
Shoppers in Cardiff will have noticed that the shop floor and windows of the unit have been bare since the start of the year. After weeks of speculation about the store's future and attempts from WalesOnline to clarify the situation with company representatives, it has been confirmed that 15:17 has gone into liquidation.
There was excitement and optimism when the store opened in the city centre last summer, with a long queue of shoppers seen on Queen Street ahead of its soft launch. Billed as a "department store with a difference", 15:17 aimed to bring together local and national brands, selling beauty products, clothes, food and drink, flowers and more. It also had an in-store cafe, Fresh, Local & Wild, which catered for vegans and food intolerances, as well as a phone repair clinic.
Read more: The incredible bistro bar that will take you right back to the Roaring Twenties
However, by the autumn, the top two floors of the store had been closed and emptied out, with escalators blocked off and stock seemingly limited to food, drink and plants on the ground floor. The rest of the store was cleared out at the beginning of January, leaving the huge unit largely empty. You can read more about the shops that have closed in Cardiff in the last five years here.
A winding-up order was made against the company on February 22 according to companies house. While the Cardiff store was 15:17's first in Wales, at the time of its opening, the company already had five branches in England and two in Scotland.
15:17 had taken over the unit from Topshop, which closed in the city centre after its parent company Arcadia fell into administration in November 2020. What the future holds for the unit - which also neighbours the empty spot once occupied by Zara - remains unknown.
Click here to sign up to our Daily Newsletter for the latest news and top stories from Wales Online.
