PORT TOWNSEND — With Marilyn Staples’ retirement comes the closure of The Green Eyeshade, downtown’s oldest surviving retail establishment.
“It’s time,” Staples, now 79, simply said of her reasons for calling it quits after 30 years at the kitchen and home-decor shop that originally opened in May 1970 under another ownership.
“I’ve really loved it.”
Difficult to find buyer
Staples has been trying to sell the business but said it was difficult to find a buyer in such harsh economic times.
She said the building has been sold, however, and she announced her decision to retire on Thanksgiving Day.
A “retirement sale” will continue until the store is sold out.
Close in mid-February
She figures the store will close in mid-February.
Staples became an employee at The Green Eyeshade when its original owners and her friends, Thorne and Dorine Edwards, asked her to pour coffee and serve cake for the store’s 10th anniversary.
“And I never left,” Staples recalled at the kitchen and home-decor store at 720 Water St., while shoppers mulled around.
The store originally opened in space that now houses El Sarape Mexican Restaurant, 628 Water St., selling fine china, crystal and gifts.
Staples and her husband, John, bought the business 30 years ago from the Edwardses.
“I could see that fine china was going nowhere, so I started to put more and more of the budget into kitchen items,” Staples said.
Good quality ‘cornerstone’
“Good quality became the cornerstone of the business.”
In recent years, she admitted, economic times and other issues affected the business.
Ferry service to Whidbey Island was limited when the now-scrapped 80-year-old state Steel Electric-class ferries serving Port Townsend were pulled from service with rusted hulls in November 2007; full, two-boat service didn’t resume until August of this year.
In May 2009, things were further complicated for downtown retailers when the state closed Hood Canal bridge for more than a month to replace its east half.
Then, there is the rise of online retail, which has taken another bite out of the small retailer’s market, Staples said.
“There’s been a lot of challenges, and then the economy went to hell in a handbasket,” she said.
“It’s not a good time to sell [the business]. It’s very difficult right now.”
She plans to garden and do other things after she walks out the door for the last time in February.
She said she is grateful for meeting so many visitors and regular customers from all over the world.
“I just want to say I’ve really enjoyed it,” she said.
“I’ve met so many people, so many fun people.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
