PORT TOWNSEND — Three months after the completion of the second roundabout on Sims Way, the process is claiming its first casualty.
Crafts Cottage, which occupies a corner of the Thomas Street roundabout at 1980 Sims Way, will close its doors at the end of October.
“The economy and the events that have occurred in Port Townsend caused a tremendous erosion in my sales,” said Melanie Bozak, who has owned and operated the business for five years.
“When I had five months at 40 [percent] or 50 percent of my normal business, it put me in a hole that I couldn’t climb out of.”
Bozak said the business was never profitable but was “almost in the black” before the economy tanked and the roundabout construction began.
“I depend on tourist dollars, and tourist numbers were way down,” she said.
Bozak was optimistic about the roundabout and did not — like some of her business neighbors — speak out against the construction when it was happening.
She helped to organize a “We Survived” party in July that was given by all the Upper Sims merchants.
She also said the property is made more attractive by the construction, since it has its own quadrant.
But all of this was not enough to save Crafts Cottage.
She said the reaction has ranged from tears to anger, with some people saying, “Why are you making me go to Silverdale to shop?”
This reaction, she said, hurts the most.
“I believe in buying local,” she said. “So it hurts me to tell someone that we are no longer going to offer these products and they will need to go out of town to get them.
“Once we send people out of town to buy one thing, we give them permission to buy everything, which is the part that really breaks my heart.”
Bozak, who worked as an accountant for Jefferson Transit prior to opening the business, said she will open her own accounting service.
“I didn’t know what retail was going to be like and that I wouldn’t get any time off,” she said.
“I was able to handle the financial part, but there was a whole learning curve, where you figure out which goods to buy for what season.”
She did offer several unique products, “from vendors who refuse to sell to big box stores.”
She has a lot of inventory left and will continue to sell it through the month, along with fixtures and other goods.
“I don’t want to go too much lower than 30 percent off because I have a lot of debt that I need to recover,” she said.
She is optimistic about the economy and even encouraged someone who visited the store to get into the business.
Her shop, with a location that has been improved by the roundabout, is already rented to another store, Bozak said.
“He’s charging the same rent I am paying,” Bozak said.
“I think that was really intelligent; as long as the economy is down, it helps to get people in the door.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
