A MUCH-LOVED school uniform shop which has been trading for nearly two decades has closed its doors.

It was a final farewell for Rig Out in Dalton on Thursday after 17 years of selling school uniform goods.

Plans were made to close the Market Street store after the long-time owner Sandy Lovell sadly died in February from cancer.

Mrs Lovell, who lived in Askam, had owned a shop in Dalton's Market Street for 38 years - trading as a potato parlour, frozen food shop, health store, therapy centre and latterly as the well-established school uniform shop Rig Out.

Before closing for the final time on Thursday, the remaining school uniform stock was donated to various schools in Furness and Women's Community Matters in Barrow.

Staff member and long-time friend of Mrs Lovell, Lesley Hustings, described the shop's closure as the 'end of an era'.

She said: "It's the end of an era. Unfortunately it was economics really, it wasn't financially viable anymore.

"Sandy was a good friend and was good to everybody. I took on running the shop when she died as a way of saying thank you to her.

"It was Sandy's business and she never took a wage - she did it for the community.

"We decided that we were only going to open a couple of days this week because of the roadworks and the weather was torrential.

"If it hadn't been for the roadworks or weather, we would have probably done a lot better. We shifted some stock and donated the rest to local schools.

"The decision had been made that remaining stock would be donated to schools in the area, which Mrs Lovell would've wanted.

"Sandy's husband came down, we started packing boxes up for different schools and Mr Lovell delivered most of them. The schools were so grateful."

Ms Hustings said news of Mrs Lovell's passing has had a 'big effect on the community.

She said: "Someone came in yesterday and said 'I loved Sandy' and bought uniforms for her children for the next five years.

"She bought me a bunch of flowers which was very touching. There's a real sense of community in Dalton."

The future of the shop on Market Street remains undecided, with no plans to put the site on the market as of yet.