Popular Wolverhampton market traders call it a day after 35 years of quality service
A couple who have dedicated more than 30 years to their market stall have officially called it a day.
Jatinder and Jasminder Grewal officially shut up shop at their market stall Grewal Fabrics for the final time yesterday, marking the end of 35 years of selling a large range of fabrics at the different Wolverhampton markets.
The couple started out in 1988 at the outdoor market on Salop Street in Wolverhampton, before moving into the indoor market and, after initially having one stall, taking over the whole of the middle of the market and trading there until 2015.
After moving back out of the indoor market to the square due to the building being closed down, the Grewal’s were among the first to move to the new outdoor Retail Market on Cleveland Street in 2018 and have remained there since.
Mr Grewal said the overriding emotion on the final day at the market for both himself and his wife as he retired at 66-years-old and Mrs Grewal at 65-years-old was one of happiness at 35 years of great work and a family feeling.
He said: “We have had a lovely send off today from everyone here, from all the management, workers and customers, who have always been so nice to us and who have given us a card and told us how much they are going to miss us. We have survived over the last 35 years as we have had regular customers and have always aimed to give them good service, which I think we achieved as they’ve have always spoken well about us on Facebook and to other people and why they keep coming back.
“We also sell a lot of quality things and don’t go for very cheap items, so they come back to us as we offer quality they can rely upon and like to buy and we have adapted with the times to sell net curtains, table cloths and kept improving.”
Mr Grewal said he and his wife were looking forward to the future after spending 35 years and, in his case, 50 years working on the market stalls, with holidays to India and the USA already planned and more travelling to follow.
He said the biggest thing they would both miss is the family feeling from the other traders and the people at the market and offered thanks for all their support over the years.
He said: “We’d like to thank everyone as they have respected us so much and have always been friendly, with lots of laughing and joking and generally having a good time. We see everyone here, from the traders to the staff to the customers, as family and we’ve had customers calling us uncle and auntie and that’s been the relationship we’ve had with people here and what we’re going to miss.”
