A MUCH-LOVED fashion shop owner has announced she is closing her Tavistock shop due to retirement. Brigid Foley is due to close her Paddons Row shop on Saturday, July 20, after a cancer diagnosis and says her priority is to spend time with her three children, Shelley, Peter and Jenny and her eight grandchildren, after losing her husband last year. Customers have been paying tribute to her customer service, expressing their sadness that she is leaving the high street and thanking her for her personal service. Brigid has helped customers make the right decision for them on what to wear at important life events, such as weddings and birthdays. Brigid, 75, said: “I’m sad to retire and would have gone on for many years otherwise. I love what I do – meeting my customers and helping them choose the right clothes. It makes me so proud to see people happy with their choice, which I have helped them make.” Brigid, of Yelverton, has been in Tavistock for 32 years and sells many exclusive designs including her own designs of knitwear, suits and dresses. Brigid has a fashion design degree from Nottingham Art College, which is where she met her late husband Kevin Keegan, who was studying photography. She also lectured at Plymouth Arts University, but soon orders for her knitwear designs flooded in;.

With the business side being run by Kevin, the partnership flourished. It was an exciting time with Kevin and Brigid showing the latest knitwear designs at prestigious fashion exhibitions in London, Paris and New York, and taking orders from Harrods, Selfridges, Macey's in New York and many more. Garments were produced locally ready to be delivered for the season ahead. Eventually, they decided to open a shop of their own and chose Paddons Row in Tavistock.  Brigid said: “It’s been very exciting, keeping up with the fashion ranges and bringing my customers the most up to date clothes and exclusive clothes from my own ranges. I have a great love of knitwear and understand what my customers will like, which has driven me on. So many of my customers have said they’re sad I’m closing down. It’s been lovely. They have brought in flowers and beautiful messages on cards. It means so much to me.” Customers come from a wide area, including Michael Taylor and his wife, from Plymouth.

He said: “It is sad news that the wonderful Brigid Foley is closing her dress shop She searches all over the world for designs to place on hangers in said shop.  “I first met her many years ago when one Christmas Eve my wife and I wandered into her shop after 3pm. We stayed for over an hour and left after I paid £200 for a cup of coffee without sugar and a dress I did not require. “Since then we have gone back regular as clockwork, twice a year. Throughout all this Brigid kept her sense of humour and didn't begrudge my moaning about the price of coffee. I will miss visits to Paddons Row.”