The Island?s oldest department store closed the door on more than 160 years in retail business on Saturday after marking down all remaining merchandise by 80 percent.

Company lawyer Wendell Hollis said that the deductions made the last day a ?very active? sales day.

?There were only three hampers of clothing left. Everything else went,? Mr Hollis said.

Those leftover hampers will now be distributed to various local charities. The store is set to sell off all of its fixtures and other items such as shop fittings, bags, cleaning equipment and trucks today and tomorrow although the majority of these items have already been sold.

Mr. Hollis was not at liberty to say whether the store made a profit during the closeout, but said it was fair to say that the wind-down was ?a successful exercise?.

A skeleton staff remains on to deal with administrative tasks. Over the coming month, the recently opened entrance ways between the Trimingham?s properties and former competitor HA&E Smith?s will be sealed to prepare for the handover of the Trimingham?s building and the adjacent property that it rented from Butterfield, Conyers and Watlington to the buyer, Bank of Bermuda.

Although the handover is due to take place on August 31, a spokesperson for Bank of Bermuda, said yesterday that the bank was unable to provide any details yet on the redevelopment plans for the buildings.

Speculation has, however, been rife that the bank plans to install a retail banking centre at its newly acquired Front Street address.

How deeply Trimingham?s departure will impact the community remains to be seen. A public opinion poll conducted in March found that the majority of peoplc, 56.5 percent of those polled, view the closure of Trimingham?s as a ?very significant? loss to Bermuda while a further 29.7 percent said the loss would be ?somewhat significant?.

Last week, Somers Cooper, co-chair of the retail division for the Chamber of Commerce, speculated that Trimingham?s demise might already have caused an increase in mail order shopping as consumers struggle to find certain goods.

With Trimingham?s departure, he said that categories of immediate short term consumer concern include children?s clothing, lingerie, ladies and men?s fashions and cosmetics.

?I am sure the Island?s retailers are working to fill in the gaps but the question is, will there will be enough retail real estate left in the long term to replace the volume of business lost?? he said.