End of an era as much-loved trader at Victorian Market in Inverness retires
More than 60 years of tradition came to an end this week as one of Inverness’s most familiar faces pulled down the shutters for the final time on her city centre business.
Nancy Rattray ran the famous joke shop in the city’s Victorian Market – an Aladdin’s cave of fancy dress outfits and novelty items, some of them quite “naughty”.
Alongside these, she also sold plants and seeds in a nod to the days when her father, JC Rattray, ran the premises as a gardening shop.
Determined to retire quietly, Nancy (78), of Drakies, only announced the end of the era after she had shut up shop.
“The market was my life and I am missing it already,” she told the HN.
“I worked in Timpson’s for nine years before taking over from my dad.
“I branched into novelties and costumes because there was a demand and no one else was doing it in the town.
“I really grew up in the market and met so many lovely people there that it will be a wrench being away. “
Despite her determination to see no fuss made about her departure, fellow stallholders, friends and members of the public have taken to social media in droves to pay tribute and share their memories of the woman who was a regular fixture in the corridor outside her shop. As the tiny premises were so full of stock, there was no room for her.
Julie Williamson said: “Happy fun days filled with laughter working in Rattrays fruit shop opposite Nancy made all those cold days bearable.
“Often spent my half-day sitting with her. Have a wonderful retirement Nancy, well deserved.”
Inverness Central councillor Emma Roddick said: “Getting to go to the joke shop was how my mam got us to agree to go shopping in Inverness on the weekends when I was wee.
“Hope she enjoys a well-deserved retirement.”
Inverness Business Improvement District paid its own online tribute to the popular shopkeeper.
“As she did not want a fuss, hardly anybody knew it was her last day at her wee shop,” they said.
“Nancy’s Joke Shop/ Gardening Supplies was one of the oldest established businesses in the market.
“She took over the running of the business in 1966 when her father, who set up in the market in the early 1950s, had a stroke. She will be missed by many.”
Among the tributes were several calls for her to be given the Freedom of the City, but Nancy insisted modestly: “I’m only a shopgirl.”
She has vowed to keep in touch with the market and is even planning a trip to the adjacent Market Bar soon to say hello and catch up with friends over a dram.