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04 Apr 2026

Derry's famous Austins store fails to open this morning amid claims that the business has closed

austins

Reporter:

Michael Heverin

08 Mar 2016 10:58 AM

Staff at Derry’s best known store today said it had closed. The famous Austins department store at the Diamond did not open this morning. Employees at the city centre store, which has been operating since 1830, said they turned up for work this morning and were told that the store had closed. The shutters at the store remain down and a sign has been erected on one of the doors saying ‘no deliveries’. Attempts to contact the management of Austins this morning were unsuccessful. The store’s website has also been closed down. It emerged in November 2014 that the City Hotel Group in Derry had agreed to buy the Austins department store building. Fifty-five jobs were saved following the sale of Austins just a few days previously. The firm which owned it, Austin & Co, had been placed into administrative receivership. The receiver then sold the trading side of the business and the store was to continue operating as normal. The local business began in 1830 when Thomas Austin came to Derry, opening a drapery shop in the corner of the Diamond. Austins has often been described as the world’s oldest independent department store. If, as indicated by staff today, the store has closed, it will be a huge blow to Derry’s city centre economy.  

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