Diane Lapkin is hanging up her last dresses.

The owner of Freda, the high-end women's clothing retailer, has decided to close the shop at 5600 Patterson Ave. The shop traces its roots to one that her mother opened in Hopewell in 1959.

The shop's last day is March 22.

"I really loved the business and the industry," Lapkin said. "It has been my life for 25 years and my mother's life before me. I am sad in a way to leave it."

But the changing dynamics of retailing and the increasing competition since Stony Point Fashion Park and Short Pump Town Center opened in 2003 are forcing her to close the store, she said.

Sales dropped steeply when Stony Point and Short Pump opened and haven't returned to previous levels, she said. She declined to say exactly how much sales have declined.

"We are not doing the business we used to do, but expenses have stayed the same or risen," Lapkin said.

The opening of the malls were a reason, she said, but other factors played into her decision to close the shop. Many of the clothing manufacturers she has used for many years also have closed.

"We have always offered professional salespeople and one-of-a-kind merchandise and an alterations department -- whatever the customer needed," she said. "What we have offered for many years is not necessary or desired that much anymore by a majority of the people. The fact that Richmond's population has moved farther west . . . a lot of people in the far West End have never heard of us."

Also, Lapkin said, more and more consumers, particularly younger ones, do an increasing amount of their shopping online.

"Retail has changed. It is not as much fun as it used to be," she said.

Evening wear, from cocktail dresses to inaugural gowns, made up about 60 percent of the merchandise at Freda, with sportswear making up the rest.

"It was quality merchandise not at designer prices," Lapkin said.

Her mother, Freda Mollen, opened the first Freda shop. Her mother retired from the business in 1988.

Lapkin, 59, who started working for her mother in 1973, opened a second store in Petersburg in 1985. "I learned from the best teacher in the business."

The Petersburg store closed in the months after a tornado struck the area in August 1993.

Lapkin opened the shop on Patterson Avenue in March 1994. A month or so later, she closed the original Hopewell store.

Though the Patterson Avenue location has operated 14 years, Lapkin said she has three employees who have been with the company longer than that. One has worked for the shop for 37 years and another for 33.

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