Janet Dervan with her daughter Savannah Gracey at The Arc

A VINTAGE clothing shop is the latest independent business to quit Camden Market – closing after 35 years.

The Arc started out as a market stall in the Electric Ballroom at the regular Sunday indoor market, before Janet Dervan moved her business to a unit at Camden Lock, and then to the Stables 11 years ago.

But after more than three decades she has decided it’s time to go, as rising costs and what some sellers see as an increasingly homogenous market make it tough for independent traders like her.

“Just look around — I’m a fish out of water,” Ms Dervan told the New Journal.

“It’s changed. It’s not so much the rent going up, it’s the add-ons. When I first moved here rates were included, a service charge was included, but all those extras are now no longer included and it’s just too much.

“There are still some gems in the market but it’s just very, very difficult, and they’re all scared. I cannot compete on rents with people that sell fridge magnets — I can’t compete with that.”

Ms Dervan studied textiles at college before setting up a print company in her early 20s.

Her first stall in Kensington Market sold fabrics she brought back from India, and her shop has continued to evolve since then, selling corsets and gothic-wear in the early 2000s and specialising in vintage finds today.

“When I first started it was amazing,” she said.

“We would literally just turn up and the money was really good. At the time, I was making jumpers so I could take time out in the week to actually produce and then sell at the weekend. We could survive and make a good living.”

The Arc has had its fair share of celebrity shoppers over the years, with the likes of Naomi Campbell, Helena Bonham-Carter, Debbie Harry and Boy George all taking turns to browse the rails.

But times have changed, Ms Dervan said, adding: “Increasingly you have to open up 7 days-a-week and then you’ve got no time to actually produce, and it’s just too much.

“It takes the joy out of it, and it’s just been a progression like that over the years.”

It’s not the end of the road for The Arc, thanks in part to an intervention from Janet’s daughter, Savannah Gracey, a comedian with hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

When Ms Gracey posted a video about her mother’s shop, it got nearly three million views in 24 hours and brought dozens of new customers to the Stables looking for a vintage steal.

On the Friday before the video, The Arc sold less than £50 worth of clothes — afterwards, it had its biggest day of trading all year.

Ms Dervan already works with her daughter on her social media videos, and the duo are now going to focus on vintage clothing pop-ups and a Vinted shop, rather than bricks and mortar.

With Ms Dervan working in Camden Market every week, Ms Gracey is no stranger to the Stables herself — she was there from as little as six-weeks-old when her mother had to breastfeed her at the till.

As a child, she felt like she “owned the place,” Ms Gracey said, adding: “I would march round to all the food stalls and ask for more.

“I remember once I had loads of tomato sauce left after my pasta, and mum was like, ‘just go’, and I would go up to them and be like, ‘can I have some more pasta?’. They couldn’t say no to me!”

Ms Gracey told how there were some 30 original stalls left in Camden Market last year, but now there are only around six.

The Arc is in the Stables near the Amy Winehouse statue.

The last day of trading will be Sunday, August 2.