More memories of Newtown wool shop at the end of era

A new nail bar, Nail Envy, is to move in to the premises this year to start a new era after Helen Lloyd, who ran the wool shop with her husband, after her family bought it in 1968, decided it was time for a change.

The town has not lost its wool shop altogether, as it has moved in to the Fabric Shop, just along Market Street.

After the news was confirmed in November, reader Elaine Williams contacted the County Times with more information about the history of the shop and her memories of it, as it was originally in her family.

Her grandmother purchased the premises in 1937 and was the first to turn it into a wool shop.

She said: “My 87-year-old mother was recently sent your article on the sale of Caroline’s Wool shop and the opening of Nail Envy.

“It was my grandmother, Mrs G S Evans, who sold the wool shop to the Joneses.

“She and my grandfather bought the shop in 1937 from the Newells when it was a newsagents and tobacconists I believe.

“My grandmother changed it to a wool shop, haberdashers and school outfitters. My grandmother used to travel to Birmingham during the war to get supplies for the shop and the family was always pleased to see her home safely.

“I have fond memories of playing shop and serving customers when I was a very small child and my mother, who was a nurse, often used to spend days off working in the shop.

“My grandmother sold the shop shortly after my grandfather died of leukaemia and moved to Shrewsbury to be close to us.”