The loss of a Marks & Spencer store in the city left customers so sad that one customer even wore mourning clothes on her final ceremonial walk through the aisles and around the shelves.

The store, which was considered an important landmark in Leicester, closed for the last time on Saturday.

As the doors closed, the employees gathered to applaud.

However, one buyer decided to give Marks’ death a more somber touch by having 60-year-old Margherita Stevens appear in a black hat and veil.

“I am devastated, I am lost,” said Mrs Stevens, standing outside the store with her head bowed.

“I used to come here because I knew people and felt a connection. This is tearing the heart out of Leicester. It’s not just the closure of a shop, for me it’s a chapter of my life that I’ll never get back.”

“My heart is in this store,” she said, calling it her “safe place.”

Other customers had the composure to find comforting words.

“I think I’ve always been a fan of Marks and Spencer, their clothes are pure cotton,” said Sundas Hasan, 38. “T-shirts, sweatpants; I always buy from them.”

Customer Irma Manktelow, 67, added: “Every time we come to Leicester I go to Marks and Spencer.

“It would be very sad not to have it here.”

M&S said it had taken the “difficult decision” to close the Gallowtree Gate store in May. The closure date was announced in July.

Leicester’s Business Improvement District (BID) group called the news “disappointing but not surprising”.

A petition has been started to persuade M&S to keep the “precious store” open.

But it didn’t help, and on Saturday the “mourners” came.

Regional manager Calum Telford had previously told the BBC that the affected employees would be offered alternative jobs within the company “wherever possible”. M&S is also investing in the nearby store in Fosse Park and has invested several million pounds in a distribution center in Castle Donington, which employs more than 1,700 people.

Colin Hyde of Leicester Civic Society had an eye on the story and said: “There is a strong connection between M&S clothing and Leicester.

“In the 1920s, Corah, a major hosiery manufacturer, entered into a contract with Marks and Spencer and over the next 60 or 70 years supplied a huge quantity of knitwear, socks and underwear.

“If you worked in a factory in Leicester you could probably go to Marks and Spencer and say, ‘I made that.'”

Mr Hyde added of the store’s closure: “It leaves a gap because it is a one-stop shop for quality food and a cafe and it was a meeting place for people for many years.”

“I think the city centre needs to make an effort to replace this.

“I think it’s possible, but it will take work from the city council and independent traders to fill that gap because it will certainly leave a void.”

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