Freshmans Vintage Store: Sheffield shop with celebrity fans including Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner to close

Freshmans Vintage Store will close its shop on Carver Street, in Sheffield city centre, following a kilo sale on Saturday, June 17, bringing to an end 26 years of physical trading. Its owner Louisa Froggatt has said she plans to continue trading online and is still looking for a buyer to take over the business.

The shop began life in The Forum on Devonshire Street, where Louisa worked as a teenager before eventually buying the business from Paul Lincoln around five years ago.

Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner applied to work there as a teenager and is among a slew of celebrity customers, including Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, ABC singer Martin Fry and members of The Human League. Freshmans has also provided clothes for shows at Sheffield’s Lyceum and Crucible theatres

Louisa told The Star she has been ‘overwhelmed’ by the response since announcing the closure in an emotional video post on Instagram. She said the decision had been a difficult one driven not by business factors but by what she called a ‘catalogue of terrible personal events’ over the last year which had left her struggling to give the store the ‘energy’ it deserved.

"It's been a very, very hard decision but 26 years is an absolutely amazing achievement for any retail, so I just want to say thank you to anybody that’s supported us over the years and I hope to see you Saturday,” she said in the video message on Instagram.

Speaking to The Star, she said the last 26 years had been a ‘blast’ and the messages of support she had received since announcing the closure were ‘unbelievable’.

Louisa previously told how Freshmans had been the first vintage store in the city centre but was now part of a much bigger scene, buoyed by the focus on sustainability. Reacting to the news of its closure, one customer called it the ‘end of an era’, adding that they were ‘absolutely gutted’, while another said ‘Freshman’s will always be the OG Sheffield vintage store’.

Freshmans Vintage Store will continue trading online at freshmansvintagestore.co.uk and anyone who is interested in buying the business can email: [email protected].