Place on Queen Street on July 15.

The company's president, Mr. Thomas Dickinson, yesterday blamed the closure of the Gift Garden on the recession, the store's location and a failed business philosophy.

Unlike Astwood-Dickinson's other three stores on Front Street and at the Southampton Princess Hotel, the shop targeted more of a local market, as well as visitors.

"The store never had a chance to get on its feet because of the economic downturn,'' Mr. Dickinson said. "Insufficient traffic at the site complicated the problem and ensured that the store did not work.'' A lack of shoppers passing through the combined Windsor Place/Reid Hall complex has been blamed before for many store failures.

But most of these have been on the upper shopping floor, not on the ground floor, which is where Astwood-Dickinson is located.

The store will become the third Astwood-Dickinson outlet to close in the past year, following the shutdown of operations at Sonesta Beach Hotel and the Princess Hotel.

Mr. Dickinson said his firm was not in financial trouble and added the closures had left the company in a healthy state.

"All three of our remaining stores are doing very well,'' he said. "We've recently finished renovating the main floor of one of our stores on Front Street.'' The two hotel stores which were closed should have been shut down earlier than they were because of falling hotel occupancy rates.

Following the failure of the experiment to appeal more to locals, he said his firm is "going back to what we do best which is selling fine jewellery and watches''.

"We had a slightly different business approach to Windsor Place,'' he said.

"Some of the merchandise was not the same and items weren't carried in as great depth or given as much display space as our other stores. It was a different business approach altogether.'' Mr. Dickinson said there would be some redundancies among the three staff who worked at the Windsor Place store.

Astwood-Dickinson will hold the lease on the site until new tenants are found.

Mr. Kirk Kitson, president of Kitson & Co., which owns Windsor Place, said the site would be divided into two or three units.

"I've got more applicants than space at the moment,'' he said. "We have to sort out the mix of tenants and pick the best.'' He added: "The retail industry in Bermuda has been subject to enormous pressures from the recession. Many of our retail businesses have been hurt and Astwood-Dickinson is a good example.'' He revealed that renovations will take place soon to connect the shopping mall with the former Marks & Spencer building, on Reid Street, which is being divided into several stores.

"By September, people will be able to enter Windsor Place from Queen Street and walk right the way through to Washington Mall,'' he said.

Mr. Thomas Dickinson.