Closing date looms for decades-old city joke store

1 hour ago

Isabella Boneham,West Midlandsand

Vic Minett,BBC CWR presenter

News image — Jokers Corner has been located in Coventry city centre for more than three decades

Sara Hennessy Sara Hennessy looking at the camera smiling wearing a green and white t-shirt and a black skirt. She is stood outside the Jokers Corner shop. The shop has a bright yellow sign that says Jokers Corner in red with a Jokers red and blue hat to the left. In the middle is a brown doow and to either side are shop windows where fancy dress costumes can be seen. — Jokers Corner has been located in Coventry city centre for more than three decades

A joke and costume shop that has been in a city centre since 1992 will close for good at the end of the year unless a new buyer is found.

Sara Hennessy, who owns Jokers Corner in Far Gosford Street, Coventry, put the store up for sale last year in the hope it would remain a joke shop after it changed hands, but said she had not yet found anyone to take it on.

The business owner said she made the sad decision to close up so she could have more time to look after her four children, and added it was struggling financially.

"If I had two Halloweens a year I probably would be alright, [but] it's just not enough to see us through," she told BBC CWR.

Hennessy took sole charge of the shop in 2024 after her mother moved back to her native Australia.

She said it had been hard running it on her own and that cheap websites including Temu and Shein that offered similar goods did not help.

Sara Hennessy Sara Hennessy to the far right smiling at the camera wearing black glasses. Behind her is the shop where fancy dress costumes can be seen. — Sara Hennessy took over the store from her mother in 2024

Her mother Lisa said it was a "shame" the shop was closing, and added that the "world today being so different" played a part in its demise.

"People press their phone and get what they need, and we are sort of the leftovers apart from when it is Halloween – but you can't keep hanging on one time," she said.

Her daughter said it was her 19th Halloween as owner, and that she had "got a bit tired of it now" and the business needed someone with "fresh legs".

Sara Hennessy Sara Hennessy smiling at the camera wearing a green and white top with scary masks on either hand. Behind her are more scary masks and fancy dress masks on the wall as well as other items. — Queues would often be seen outside the store ahead of Halloween in October

Queues would often be seen outside the store ahead of Halloween in October, and the store has been popular for fancy dress all-year round.

The owner added "so many people are sad" to see it go, and pointed out a pantomime horse that singer Tom Grennan rode onto the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend stage in Coventry in 2022 had come from Jokers Corner.

The original joke shop owners Bill and Gale still worked at the store once a week, she said, and customers who came in still remembered the pair.

"My mother and I were a really good team, as were Bill and Gale," she said. "The ventures have been crazy and we had the most amazing time, but now it's time for family time."

The shop is set to close its doors for good on 31 December.

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