Birgitta Andreen founded Fabia in the 1960s. In the 1980s, a move was made to the current premises on Nordenskiöldsgatan in Gothenburg. There, the store has continued to operate as a traditional physical retail store without digital sales channels.
Last summer, operations were paused due to the founder needing to retire for health reasons, and now it is clear that the store is being discontinued permanently.
But anyone looking for a corporation behind the clothing store will search in vain. The business has been run as a sole proprietorship by Birgitta Andreen for all these years, and therefore lacks an organizational number. This reflects how the store has been managed otherwise, with paper-based handling without the digital systems that are standard in today's retail.
Unused Clothes From The Past
Work is underway in the store premises during the last weekend of May. Stylist Theresa Skjolden, together with the founder's daughter, has been tasked with going through the stock.
Now Birgitta has gotten older and sick, and the store is ceasing. Her sister Catrin has therefore hired me to get the store together for one last opening since the 60s, writes Theresa Skjolden in a post.
The work has consisted of unpacking, sorting and hanging up garments from the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Since the clothes have been in the store's storage since they were delivered to the store decades ago, the original price tags are still attached.
Everything must go, and we have tidied up the store. The clothes are new, but so old with tags still on – that they have now become vintage. Pretty cool, writes Theresa Skjolden.
The liquidation will take place during the last weekend of May. Thereafter, the doors to the premises will be closed for the last time. Emptying the store marks the end of a long era for the local clothing retail on the address.
Here Birgitta Andreen resided and offered clothes, underwear, sewing help, coffee and good conversations. It is an honor to fix up her store for one last "voyage" before it docks for good, concludes Theresa Skjolden.