Sometimes, the universe has a way of telling you it's time to shut up shop.
Lisa Mudge, who runs her family-owned business Frawley's Shoes, says COVID, the changing shoe market and the working habits of young people have all played a part in the family's decision to close the iconic store after 95 years.
Frawley's Shoes began in 1927, with brothers John and Ted joining their father Thomas in selling shoes from the back of a T-Model Ford in Queanbeyan, before the business set up in Kingston, and then in Garema Place, where its facade has been a familiar sight since 1958.
At one point, Frawley's had branches all over town, in Woden Plaza, Kippax and Jamison, among others. It eventually amalgamated into the single Civic store around 20 years ago.
Lisa Mudge - nee Frawley - is the second of Ted and Margaret Frawley's seven children; the pair were engaged to be married when the Garema Place shop first opened.
But while her parents had lived through many strange world events, Ms Mudge said nothing had compared to the COVID pandemic, which saw their shop shuttered, like many others, for weeks at a time while lockdowns were in place across the country.
"The world will probably never be the same," she said.
"Dad had never seen anything like it, and it's one of the things that really spurred on his decision to close."
Ted Frawley is now 87, "the age where you want to see things tied up".
And she herself is 61; she said she didn't relish the thought of having to move the shop to new premises, especially as none of her own five children had ever shown any interest in becoming a "shooey".
She's run the shop for the past 14 years; before that, she and her husband owned and ran the Byrnes Mill Restaurant in Queanbeyan - "my career's been in food and feet". She and her older brother Michael were the only siblings who ended up in shoes; he, along with cousins Stephen and Gerard Frawley, went on to establish the shoe company FSW, which opened in 2002.
Ms Mudge said while the family hadn't yet set a date, Frawley's Shoes would likely close for the last time in February.
