The closure comes after Mrs Barton’s death last year and the hard decision was made to close the shop.

Cicero owner Phoebe Maroulis was left in charge and it operated for the last time on January 16.

“It was easy to run the business up towards Christmas in conjunction with my own business,” she said.

“But it was hard to run with my other priorities.

“We sent all the Pandora stock to NJ Jewellers and the rest to Little Fish Gallery.”

In an emotional decision, Mrs Maroulis made choices about the future of her shop.

“It was sad closing because it was a way I was able to get started with my business,” she said.

“Katie was a mentor to me and we were able to share marketing and costs.

“She showed my how I didn’t have to start out big, just to take little steps and then you will grow.

“She made it work for her and she has given me inspiration to do that.

“She was an inspiration to me in pursuing my dreams.”

Mrs Barton’s husband Peter is in the process of developing a community art collection in Katie’s honour.

“A retrospective of Katie’s work will also be displayed at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in Dubbo in March,” Mrs Maroulis said.

One of Katie’s main projects was to ‘keep it local’, and promoted shopping in Wellington.

“We had so much support from locals who came in to help run the shop,” Mrs Maroulis said.

“It just shows how important it is to keep shops local and by the community stepping in, it meant people didn’t need to go to Dubbo to shop for Christmas presents.

“The gallery was originally a house, but Katie had a vision for it to be a gallery.

“She gave that inspiration to other people to look at unused buildings and create them into something they desire.”