ANOTHER York city centre shop has closed its doors - but is set to be replaced with a new tenant.

Fenwick’s gift shop in the Coppergate Centre has closed after four years of trading on the former Jane Norman site.

And today (Tuesday, September 25) Fenwick confirmed that seven employees at its main York department store had been made redundant as part of national cut-backs.

The gift shop, which sold gifts, cards and accessory ranges such as Cath Kidston, was located next door to the main Fenwick department store.

A sign on the door yesterday morning said that stock had been moved inside the main store, with workers dismantling window displays and shop fittings in the afternoon.

Only a few weeks ago, the management team at the Coppergate Centre told The Press how it was bucking the trend of closing shops with its full occupancy and yesterday, a spokesman said that shoppers should not be unduly concerned by the closure.

He said: “Fenwick has been running its gift shop on a short-notice lease whilst we looked to secure a new long-term tenant.

“We have been in discussion with a potential new tenant for some months and look forward to them joining us very shortly. Work is due to start on the fit-out in the coming days.”

Fears grew for the future of Fenwick in the city centre at the beginning of September, when the department store chain, which was founded in Newcastle in the 1880s, announced more than 400 job cuts nationwide.

The cuts were linked to ongoing problems in the high street, but it was not known at that time how they would affect employees at the York store.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Fenwick confirmed that seven employees out of the 107 at the York store had been made redundant - six of them voluntarily - with no additional redundancies as a result of the gift shop closure.

She said: “The transformation programme we announced last year is progressing to plan and we believe it will put Fenwick on a strong footing for future growth. As part of our programme we are investing in IT and other back office systems, in our flagship Newcastle store and in a new e-commerce offer, which will go live in early 2019.

“We have also restructured parts of the business and have made the difficult decision to cut staff numbers, reducing the headcount by 408 from a total of 3,250 colleagues.”

Elsewhere in York, the florist Heaven Scent in Micklegate ceases trading this Friday.

Owner Fiona Preston, who has been a florist for 25 years, said that a combination of things had contributed to her decision to shut the shop, including ill health and the lease expiring.

Fiona, originally from Ireland, said: “It’s a good time to hang up my scissors.”

This brings the total number of empty shops in Micklegate to five, with more than 50 standing empty across the rest of the city.