“I’m disappointed because I never in a million years thought that they would close down,” said Janet MacLeod, who is out $230 following the unexpected closing of Etcetera Footwear and Fashion on Inglis Place.
“I just couldn’t imagine that somebody who has been in the community that long would do that to his customers,” she said, of owner Mike Lesser.
Lesser opened the Etcetera store in the winter of 2012 in a portion of the former Margolians after it closed in January of that year. Prior to opening his own shop, Lesser had served as the merchandise manager at Margolians, where he had worked for almost 28 years.
MacLeod purchased a pair of Blundstone boots for her husband on April 13. She went back to exchange them for a different colour, which had to be ordered in, and accepted an in-store credit in the meantime.
“I bought them here so I could shop local,” she said.
MacLeod said she received a call from the store the following week to say the replacement shoes might be delayed but when she went back to check on them last Monday, the store was locked and empty.
“Honestly, on Monday I was completely stunned,” she said. “I was shocked.”
Calls to the store are met with a recording that says the phone has been disconnected. And calls to Lesser’s home number by the Truro Daily News were not returned by deadline.
“I just want my money back,” MacLeod said. Or just give me the boots.”
Grace Murray, promotions and marketing co-ordinator with the Downtown Truro Partnership, said she has not heard anything official about Etcetera shutting down. Instead, Murray said her understanding is that Lesser is opening a new shop elsewhere on Inglis Place called Etc Eastwinds Trading Company.
The windows of that shop were covered with brown paper on Monday and no one responded when a reporter knocked on the locked door.
