The Abingdon Homebase store is set to close within the next few days. There is up to 90% off and at least 50% off what remains. Big areas are now empty.

Homebase went into administration last year. CDS Superstores, which owns The Range and Wilko, bought the brand and 71 stores for £25.6 million, but Abingdon was not included in the deal.

It is unclear what will happen to the store after closure. When the Fairacres Phase 2 development was completed in 2021, the Homebase store combined three of the proposed units into one.

For the last three years, a plant and flower seller has used the gated space between Richard Coxeter Ltd and Coxeter House.

Recently, signs have invited people to take what’s left for free — plants, pots, and fixtures and fittings.

Most of the better plants have already gone.

Do you remember how, before the current business, Richard Matthews used the same plot every Monday, Friday, and Saturday as an outdoor flower stall. That was for about 40 years. Their main shop is in Sutton Courtenay.

A new juice bar, opened on February 1st, 2025, at Coxeters Yard, bringing a healthy addition to the town’s bars. It may be Abingdon’s first specialist juice bar (although someone out there may remember others), and is part of tradition of juicing dating back decades, and centuries.

Juice bars have been around since the 1970s, and increasingly popular since the 2010s, emphasising healthy ingredients, detox benefits, and fun flavours. The new bar continues this trend with juice mixes like Remedy, Health Kick, and Tropical Blast, alongside shots called Ginger or Turmeric and smoothies with names like Strawberry Split and Cacao Bomb.

Juicing may seem like a modern health trend, but its roots go back to at least 150 B.C. The Essenes, a Jewish sect known for writing the Dead Sea Scrolls, mashed pomegranates and figs for their health benefits. That may have been called Essenic Elixir.

The Abingdon Supermarket opened last year but closed for a while towards the end of the year. They left a note saying they’d be back mid December. They brought in more stock as if they were planning to reopen, but I haven’t seen that happen.

There’s a sign that says ‘Lease For Sale: Takeaway & Shop (With all Stock and Assets).’ It seems like they had to give up for some reason. So that’s sad.