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Queen Elizabeth II: Haddonfield English shop sees rush of customers buying memorabilia
People love to shop, but customers at a Haddonfield English gift shop poured in to the sore with mixed emotions.
HADDONFIELD, N.J. - People love to shop, but customers at a Haddonfield English gift shop poured in to the sore with mixed emotions Thursday.
"Our customers have been very sad too," said Gary Coleman. He owns the English Gardener Gift Shop in Haddonfield. "This is from the platinum jubilee and people are coming in and grabbing these. We sold quite a few today. Anything with her picture on it is gonna sell," Coleman explained. He says customers saddened by the passing of Queen Elizabeth II are buying up memorabilia to remember her.
"The Union Jack flag, Saint George’s Cross, is the flag that will probably be out for her funeral because that’s the national flag," he said. People were also buying food for watching non-stop coverage of the Queen’s life and eventually the televised funeral.
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"We have clotted cream in the refrigerator. Any of the biscuits sell for high tea or tea for viewing activities that are gonna’ happen," said Coleman. He opened the store 16 years ago.
Coleman was born in England and he and his British mom moved to the United States when he was a child. He has family still there.
"I’m 69 so I was born the year that she was queen. So that’s the only queen I’ve known my entire life and then just to have it end today, it was kind of sudden. To me it’s almost like a relative’s passing if you know what I mean. She’s like a grandmother type situation," Coleman remarked.
Across Kings Highway, people dined outside the British Chip Shop.
Philip Haxby-Thompson stopped out front. "It’s going to be huge, a monumental time in British history and yeah I do feel a bit disconnected from it. I wish I was there with my family and friends right now," said Haxby-Thompson. He plans to watch tv coverage and toast to the Queen's 70 years of achievements as the longest serving monarch.
"And have a pint in her honor," he laughed.