A SUBIACO favourite is set to close its doors this weekend.
WA Cleanskin Cellars is shutting up shop after 14 years of trading in the Farmer Jacks arcade.
Owner Marie Cloughley said Cleanskin Cellars had been running on a month-to-month lease for the last few years, and Farmer Jacks was ready to expand into their 36sq m floor space.
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READ NOW“It’s sad, but that’s just the way it is,” she said.
“When you look at the liquor industry overall, the little guys are disappearing.”
Ms Cloughley was inspired to open the shop after “struggling to find a decent bottle of wine for under $20” when she was living and working in Subiaco.
“I had to do so much research to get it up and running, so the people of Subi really took ownership of it,” she said.
Ms Cloughley and husband Steve fought hard to get the store opened; Cleanskin Cellars was the first liquor store in metro WA to be granted permission to trade on a Sunday after a landmark 2004 decision in the Liquor Licensing Court.
It was a busy time in the Cloughleys’ lives, with milestone after milestone compacted in to a few months.
“We were married in October, went to court in November, opened in December, and I found out I was pregnant in January,” Ms Cloughley said.
“I worked in store until Sunday and had my daughter on Monday.”
The pocket-size store still sells around 3 tonnes of stock per week, and Ms Cloughley said local shoppers had been consistently supportive.
“It’ll be hard when I come in to take everything out,” she said.
“It’d be different if people didn’t want us here.”
The Cloughleys are continuing to operate the business through their wacleanskincellars.com.au website and remaining brick and mortar stores.
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