The tills rang faint as Wellington's grand old dame bobbed her final curtsy.

As the clock struck five, department store Kirkcaldie and Stains closed its doors after 152 years of trading.

The last shopper to leave was Hilda, of Silverstream, a customer of 30 years, who clutched the signature green and gold bag with her "regular" inside - a bath towel that the staff had put aside for her.

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Doorman Neville Wellbourn and another staff member shut the doors after the final customer Hilda, who left with a bath towel to remember Kirks by.

The staff applauded, as their manager saluted the 100-strong crowd who packed the footpath outside, to see the doorman close the brass-handled doors for the last time to a chorus of "thank you, Kirkcaldies."

Most of the lipsticks had long been spirited away.

But there will be one final makeover at number 165-177 Lambton Quay.

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Avinash Shrivastava poses with Kirkcaldie and Stains' top-hatted doorman Neville Wellbourn.

'Kirks' ' last transformation will be her own - into a fresh-faced Australian.

Saturday was Kirkcaldies' final day of trading before its shop floors, established in 1863, are reincarnated as Australian retail giant David Jones.

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*Kirks replacement applauded but department stores face uncertain-future

*Kirkcaldie and Stains department store to become David Jones

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Author Julia Millen who wrote a history of the store waits outside to see its last moments.

The closure of Wellington's elegant department store, which served generations of shoppers, is a poignant moment in the country's retail history.

Christchurch's and Timaru's Ballantynes, Auckland's Smith and Caughey and Invercargill's H & J Smith - which recently absorbed Dunedin's Arthur Barnett - are the only remaining department stores.

1 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The second location for the shop, the first was Plimmers Ark. This shows the shop in 1865 - the year of the first Kirks sale. 2 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE In 1868 Kirks moved to its current location and opened a two-storey wooden building, pictured here in 1870. 3 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The store expanded in the next thrity years, pictured here in 1901 - draped in black for Queen Victoria's death. 4 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE By 1909 Kirks had been transformed and was more recgonisable as the building known today. It was the most imposing building at the time. 5 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Kirks, centre left, in 1922 - showing parts of Lambton Quay including the trams and the Midland Hotel on the left. 6 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, drive past Kirks in 1927. 7 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Kirkcaldie & Stains remodels the 1897 building in the Italianate style, from 1927 to 1928. By the end of 1928, the simple classical facade is completed, pictured near the end of construction in 1928. 8 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The brand new facade of Kirks in 1928. 9 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Kirks decked out for Christmas in 1956 - cars surround the store, not horses or trams. 10 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE A magical milestone was celebrated in 1963 - 100 years of Kirks. 11 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Kirks in the back, with the Midland Hotel, centre, dominating the skyline before it was demolished in about 1982 to become a Midland Park. 12 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The shop in 1983 for the 120th celebrations, this was one of the last years of the original building. 13 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE In 1985 the business is bought by Renouf Corporation, which signifcantly reconstructions the building, keeping on the facade. Two tower blocks were also built behind the shop. 14 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Trolley buses are now operating instead of trams and the 1995 Kirks is recognisable as the building that will close on Saturday. 15 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE Wellington celebrates 140 years of Kirks in 2003. 16 of 16 KIRKCALDIE & STAINS ARCHIVE The beloved store celebrated 150 years in 2013 - two years later it announced that it was closing and David Jones would moving to Wellington

Kirkcaldies' famous sales have for decades commanded queues of customers who camped outside its doors at the promise of discounted perfumes.

Fighting to stay afloat in a brave new world of online retail, Kirkcaldies' books recorded loss after loss until, finally, the biggest sale of its history would also be its last.

On Saturday the cosmetics department, which was to be transferred to a "pop-up" store in the desert between Kirks closing and David Jones opening, was in full swing.

But the empty upper floors were cordoned off ("The K & S Cafe has now closed forever," one sign dramatically proclaimed) while shoppers picked up final souvenirs and shook hands with staff as they thronged through lonely piles of clothing, hosiery, and cookie cutters,

Kirkcaldies' bosses could not bear to have the store photographed in its death throes.

Customers had eagerly denuded the store down to its bones, picking its green and gold-liveried shelves of the cashmere sweaters and fine china - the quality stock that had attracted the loyalty of generations.

In the final week customers had scraped up coat hangers and shop-fittings - there was little else left.

"We want people to remember the store in its glory days and not sad and empty, as it is now," chief executive Orsola Del Sante-Bland explained earlier this week.

Still, longtime customers turned out in their Sunday best, to catch a glimpse of its swansong - including Thelma Colquhoun, 93, on her zimmerframe.

Julia Millen, who wrote a book on Kirkcaldies, used to frock up to go to its tearooms as a girl.

The store was really something, she noted - it opened two years before Wellington was even named the country's capital.

"It's grown up with the city and everything that's happened - the earthquakes... because it was on reclaimed land it used to flood in the basement and the rats came up from the wharves."

"It was special. It was the last of the great department stores in Wellington."

Australian department store David Jones, owned by South African company Woolworths Holdings, paid A$400,000 (NZ$428,000) to take over the lease and buy the rights to use the Kirkcaldie and Stains name.

It will spend $20 million on refurbishment for the new department store, which is expected to open mid-2016.

But what of the iconic, top-hatted doorman?

Shoppers snapped selfies with Neville Wellbourn, who was manning the doors for the final day's trading, but was not allowed to talk to the media.

The doorman will be staying on with David Jones, which has rehired him, and many of the remaining Kirkcaldies' staff.

Rosemary Foubister, of Khandallah, planted a kiss on Wellbourn's cheek in farewell, joking that she might walk out and in again in hopes of being the last shopper shown the door.

But, alas, she was beaten to it by Hilda - who also had the last word: "A lot of people feel the shop should have been saved."