Christine by Shelton Clothiers will start the work week preparing for a store closing sale that begins Thursday, Dec. 1.

The Downtown women’s store is going out of businesses just over a year after it opened in the summer of 2010. It will be closed Monday-Wednesday to prepare for the closing sale.

The older business that launched Christine, Shelton Clothiers – a menswear store – will remain open.

Thomas Shelton, the owner of both stores, said Christine didn’t reach its business goals because of the national economy, “poor consumer sentiment and market uncertainty.”

“The men’s store is an established business that is able to weather the uncertainty consumers face right now,” he said in a written statement. “The women’s store never was able to reach that level of maturity.”

The Christine store closing sale will continue through the end of December or until all of its merchandise is gone.