A luxury fashion store in Broadmead will soon be closing after 14 years of trading in the city centre. Garment Quarter on Merchant Street is set to close in April.
The independent fashion boutique specialises in designer brands and was established in Bristol in 2010. It was originally based in Cabot Circus and was the victim of two ram-raids while it was there.
The store, which was bought by Philip Hankinson and Howard Eggleston in 2019, is now set to leave the city centre. Posters which have been put up in the store advise customers to continue shopping via Cruise Fashion.
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The shop sits opposite TK Maxx and the street, which has plenty of empty lots approaching the old Debenhams, will soon have another gap to fill. This follows other fashion brands leaving Cabot Circus in recent months.
Garment Quarter’s name combines the original founders’ (John Reid, Christopher Atkinson and Michael Barker) roots in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and New York’s Garment District. The boutique was named as one of the best independent clothing retailers in the city centre in 2021.
It sells clothing, accessories and footwear from upmarket brands, with Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Moschino among the big-name designers named on its page on Bristol Shopping Quarter. A huge closing-down sign in the window advises shoppers of a sale, with 20 per cent off most full-price items before it shuts.
Back in 2015 it made national headlines in its previous location, after bungling ram-raiders got their bearings wrong and instead smashed their car through the window of the travel agent next door. They eventually realised their mistake and got the right shop, making off with £20,000 worth of designer goods.
Just weeks later it was ram-raided for a second time, and a rack of Versace clothes was stolen.
