The Art Gallery of Windsor is currently making some extra room for the Windsor Public Library.
Shop AGW will close for good in mid-March because the library needs the space on the main floor.
Four part-time employees at Shop AGW are also losing their jobs. They have already started emptying the shelves
Gallery director Catharine Mastin said there is simply no room for the shop. She also said, "the shop was not not an economically viable option for us."
Mastin didn't want to talk to numbers and would only say operating the shop was "a challenge."
"The challenges we have had with the shop are just things we have to address given our fiscal situation at the gallery," she said.
The restaurant at the gallery had previously closed.
"This is the time to go back to our core work," Mastin said. "At the end of the day, it's about art."
Mastin said the gallery is working toward offering free admission. With no overhead for a gift shop and a new tenant in the building, free admission is now viable.
"I think it’s important to reach out to the people of Windsor," she said. "I think many people in Windsor know we have had challenges in this building."
The gift shop has already reduced their prices by at least 40 per cent.
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