The go-to domestic appliances shop, Gala, is closing down after hundreds of years of the Borda family being at the forefront of Malta’s commercial scene.

It announced the end of the business on Facebook, with a closing-down sale, stating that the last day of operation of the household-name stores will be July 31.

“It is with great regret to announce the closure of Frank Borda Ltd, Gala as we know it,” the post read. “Our last day will be the 31st of July 2023. We will be closed thereafter.”

Gala Domestic Appliances offered an extensive range of kitchen and household goods and many people in the country would own a fridge, washing machine, cooker or air conditioning unit purchased from one of its outlets.

With its head office located in Ta’ Xbiex, the Gala empire was spread over various towns, with a supermarket by the same name also housed in the Testaferrata Street centre and other seven outlets in Birkirkara, Valletta, Paola, Sliema, Cospicua, Ħamrun and Gozo, according to the company’s website.

Times of Malta was unable to reach the owners to enquire about the reasons for the closure.

Until January, Gala was hiring a sales manager to run its home appliances branch in Victoria.

An advert for the family-run domestic appliances store on the front page of Times of Malta the day after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

Gala Domestic Appliances was established in the 1950s by Frank Borda, supplying refrigerators not only locally but also running a successful export business to Libya and Egypt.

But Gala’s history dates as far back as 1595, when Guglio Borda established the first foothold of the Borda family in Malta, according to the company’s website.

The family’s success story in Malta’s business scene eventually took off in 1768, when Giuseppe Borda launched a fleet of sailing ships to deliver fresh food and water supplies to other sailing boats in the northern Maltese waters.

When the British navy later set up a base in Malta, the Borda family was contracted to continue delivering this service directly to them – for another “successful” 120 years.

Frank Borda died last year. He had passed the business onto his son, Paul, who undertook a major €40 million investment to purchase and develop its headquarter premises in Ta’ Xbiex and continued to develop and expand the portfolio of its own Gala brand, as well as established international names.

Until now, this property hosted Gala’s head offices, along with Gala Supermarket Facilities and Gala Domestic Appliances.

Gala’s website still states that its mission is to “continue the legacy”, adding that the current management “aspires to sustain the ever-long Gala success story, well into our current times and beyond”.