After five years, vintage clothing store Sympathy For The Rebel is closing. The owner, Ryan Kennedy, posted the following message to the store's Facebook page yesterday...

To my friends and supporters , I've got some news to share . It's a bit of a mixed bag , a little good and a little bad.

I've always been one to get the tough stuff out of the way so I'll lead with the bad .

I'm closing my shop Sympathy For The Rebel .

It kinda hurts a little to even type that .

It was 5 years ago this month that I opened the shop and it has been an amazing , challenging , rewarding , journey over that time . I always wanted to have a shop that was an extension of my own personality and vision , and through the faithful support of our customers I have been lucky enough to come to work in a place that feels like home to me . I am grateful for the support of the amazing staff I've had over the years , our wonderful customers , the community of downtown Peterborough and my friends and family .

This wasn't an easy decision to make , I will miss so many things about the shop but top of that list will be the people . I don't think I could have imagined what happens when you hang an ' open ' sign downtown and then stand there for 5 years . Everybody and anybody walks in and everyday is unique in it's own way . I still see customers that I saw on our first day and I still get customers who think we just opened . I am grateful for all the people I have had the chance to connect with . I've had the chance to sell clothing to everyone from rock stars to senior citizens who just feel like ' nobody makes a good wool sweater anymore ' . My idea of who my customer would be was way off and I'm actually glad about that .

It will be sad to see our doors close but even good things run their course and I'm ok with that . I think there is a lot to celebrate about the last 5 years at Sympathy and I plan on doing that over the next month .

The good news is this ...

I'm keeping the brand and I'm going to keep doing Sympathy in some capacity in the future . My love for vintage is still there and I've always considered myself an ' ideas guy ' so I have no plans to stop living life that way . I'm not ready to share my upcoming plans for the Sympathy brand quite yet but It'll be important that all of you follow us on our social media platforms to keep in the loop . I'll be sharing some ideas soon and to be honest , as much as closing the shop is a bummer , I'm excited to see what's next . I have been reminded over these last few weeks that we can't define ourselves simply by what we do for a living . We are given a choice in the face of change to maintain the qualities and passions that truly make us who we are . I am who I am , not just what I do . Who I am is not tied to an address or a job , it's inside of me and It's under my control to keep being me . Cheesy ? maybe . True ? I think so . Getting some perspective on who we are , what's really important to us and the amazing life we have a chance to live kind of takes some of the fear out of change . I'm ready for what's next , and ready to celebrate what was .

We'll be closing our doors for good sometime in the middle of July . We're gonna throw a birthday / funeral party . We're gonna have some big time sales and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to connect with many of you in person and say thanks for all the support . Like I mentioned earlier please follow us on FB / Twitter / Instagram etc so that we can keep you in the loop about our sales and closing events and also the future plans for the Sympathy brand . I've never been much for asking people to share stuff but if you'd consider sharing this post to help us get the word out I'd appreciate it .

Sorry for the long winded post , I've got 5 years of things I wanna say !

I'll be in the shop a lot more over the next month so please come by and say hi . We'll be clearing out our huge stock in basement and bringing up tons of stuff for our sales . In season , out of season , clothing , non-clothing items , etc , etc . There's gonna be lots of stuff to dig through , so check in often !

On a parting note I leave you with the legend that inspired the shop in the first place .

Five years , what a surprise .

Ryan