Gift shop to shut after 50 years

A LONG-established Masterton gift store is set to close its doors after 50 years in business.
Whiteman's Gift World is having a "retirement sale" to sell off surplus stock after proprietor Gwenda Stewart's decision to retire.
Gwenda and husband Herb expect to cease trading as Whiteman's in the New Year, after nearly 10 years of managing the store.
It's the end of an era for Whiteman's, which has a retail history dating back to 1924 when Joseph Minnes first opened a gift shop on the corner of Queen Street and Lincoln Road.
Minnes's gift shop survived until 1954, but by 1956 the business had been renamed Whiteman's Gift World and featured in the 1956 Wairarapa phone book.
Wairarapa archivist Gareth Winter said it was likely the founder of Whiteman's was either Bob Whiteman, who died in 1990 aged 82, or Clarence Whiteman, who died in 1986 aged 77 ? or possibly the two together.
Whiteman's is in the Star Block, which is now owned by the Trustlands Trust but was once the home of The Star newspaper. The Star later changed its name to The Age and then merged with The Times to become The Wairarapa Times-Age.
Last month Whiteman's sold the lease for its corner site location to women's clothing chain Pagani and is now trading from the adjacent premises on Queen Street.