Staff of Shaws the Drapers, the chain of shops that announced it was going into voluntary liquidation after 110 years in business, have spoken of their 'anger and hurt' at how the closure was handled. Staff were notified of the closure in a letter sent out on the morning of December 27 after being told earlier in December that the company would be looking at changes to keep the business afloat.
One shop manager who was provided with what she described as a generic two-paragraph reference after working for the company for almost 20 years said she was "not angry at [the owners]," but "hurt" at how the closure was handled. Vicki Tarr was manager of the Wellfield Road, Cardiff, branch when it closed, and was assistant manager before that.
She said: "Since the summer, they’ve just been reducing stock and not ordering anything. Then the last two weeks, we’ve had to reduce everything - a closing-down sale, but they wouldn’t say it. We kept asking and they wouldn’t tell us." You can get more local news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
READ MORE: Shaws the Drapers enters liquidation after 110 years of trading
Then, Vicki said, staff received a letter saying the company was looking to "make some changes" in the New Year to overcome the impact of a "challenging" few months of trading. The letter, dated December 3, was sent out less than a month before the company went into liquidation.
Despite this, Vicki said she went into Christmas expecting that the shops were about to close. She said: "The customers were saying it, there was nothing in that shop - it was empty."
When she received the email indicating that she would be made redundant, with owner Philip Shaw saying the business was "no longer viable" and thanking staff for their service, there was a reference attached. But for Vicki, it wasn't enough.
The reference apparently read: "I confirm that the individual presenting this reference was an employee of Shaws (Cardiff) Limited to 27th December 2022 when their role became redundant following the closure of the business. I am very grateful for their hard work whilst they worked with us and wish them every success for the future."
Vicki said this reference was "hurtful," adding: "I’m the manager in the shop, but I got the same reference as someone who worked there for a week. It doesn’t say what the person did, or whether they were good. I liked my job and I liked the customers. They say how they’re a family business but… I don’t know, it’s like there’s no respect. Had they been honest, and said it was going to be closing, we would’ve been fine."
The problem, she said, was the "limbo" over Christmas. "You knew what the email was gonna say," she added, "but it was more the case of waiting for it over Christmas. If the owners had said in August that they were going to close, maybe some people would have jumped ships but we wouldn't all have. And we would have been able to start saving money."
Angela Fitzgerald Berrow, 59, worked in the Queens Arcade, Cardiff, branch as a shop assistant for 14 months after quitting her role in the NHS for a "less stressful" job. She said: "I was a regular shopper there before being employed there. I loved shopping there and being employed there, but although my employers must have been under tremendous stress, the way they handled it regarding their employees was unacceptable."
Angela said employees were led to believe that there would be "big changes" in January but then told to close with barely any notice. She said: "We were selling everything half price with no new stock being delivered. We were suspicious but after receiving the letter about a meeting in January we were hopeful. Then, on December 27 we received the email early in the morning to say they were going into voluntary liquidation."
She said employees were now "in limbo," and asked: "I am 60 next year - who is going to employ me now?" She also added: "One of my colleagues had worked for Shaws for 14 years. To give that commitment, dedicated to Shaws, [the colleague] deserved to be told from the onset of things going wrong."
Shaws, and Stones and Co (the firm handling the company's voluntary liquidation) have both been contacted for comment.
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