Business & Tech
Final Days to Enjoy The Village Shoppe
After more than 20 years, owner Paula Nordby is looking forward to slowing down and enjoying her second retirement.
It is less than an hour until closing time on the next-to-last Wednesday of the year before The Village Shoppe closes for good. Customers continue to trickle in looking for Christmas gifts even as darkness descends on Cole Street and other shops close for the night.
A father and his daughters pick out a Lilliput Lane miniature figurine for mom. Near the window, Sara Moen is looking for snow babies for her daughter.
Moen has been giving her daughter a snow baby from The Village Shoppe each Christmas since her daughter was 7 -- she's now 21.
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Owner Paula Nordby has served a lot of customers in her more than 20 years running the shop. The best and worst parts of being a business owner are the people, she jokes, but upon deeper reflection, it is just this kind of connection to families that she has enjoyed the most.
"It is really great when young adults come in with their children, and I hear them tell the little one that this is where their parents brought them for candy when they were little. How cool is that?" she said.
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Nonetheless, Nordby said she is ready to retire.
"I was really ready to retire several years ago, but the economy was starting to decline and I couldn't find a buyer to take over the shop, so I kept going," she said. "I'm 70 this year, and I really want to just enjoy my life."
Nordby, who came to Enumclaw following her first retirement after 30 years as a social worker, had purchased The Village Shoppe in 1990 to run it with her mother. Her father had been retired, and she recalled her mother saying "I married him for better or for worse but not for lunch."
And so mother and daughter oversaw The Village Shoppe as it flourished during the economic boom of the 1990s, even expanding the store into the neighboring property and specializing in everything from candies to trinkets, ornaments, kitchen appliances, miscellaneous gifts, cards and collectibles.
But then the economy began to level off and took a turn the other way, Nordby said. People's interests in collectibles began to wane, and in 2006, her mother passed away.
"It's just been me," she said, though her brother and nephew who live in the Puget Sound area do come by to help when they can.
Come January, Nordby will be closing her store and looking forward to her future. What is she looking forward to?
"Hip replacement surgery," she said. After that, "I'd like to just relax and maybe hike a little."
As for The Village Shoppe, Nordby said she has been speaking to someone who may be interested in continuing the kitchen section of her store -- though not necessarily at the present location.
She also plans to keep The Village Shoppe's Facebook page going, to share with her loyal patrons any deals on her lingering inventory long after the front doors of the store have closed.
For customers, such as Moen, who've been accustomed to coming in to The Village Shoppe, the change will take some getting used to.
"It's kind of sad," said Moen, a fellow local business owner who runs Fashion Fusion. "I've come in over the years and picked up different gifts. I liked shopping here over the mall. It's just better to support your local businesses."
And Moen will have to figure out a new tradition to start with her new 10-month-old daughter.
But all of The Village Shoppe's history is not lost. The gallery across the street has arranged to continue The Village Shoppe's impressive candy section. Gallery manager Elaine Lynest hopes it will help draw children to the gallery and open them to art and expression.
For Moen's youngest daughter, that may be the perfect place to start a new tradition.
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