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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Leesburg’s Ben Franklin To Close After 40 Years
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Oh No!
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Date: February 21, 2014 07:48AM
Leesburg’s Ben Franklin To Close After 40 Years
http://www.leesburgtoday.com/business/leesburg-s-ben-franklin-to-close-after-years/article_29728858-99a0-11e3-97e8-0019bb2963f4.html
Fresh on the heels of the closing of Hallmark’s Treasure House in Leesburg at year’s end after 32 years in business, county residents will be saying goodbye to another Loudoun retail institution—the Ben Franklin store on Catoctin Circle.
After almost 40 years, co-owners and managers Sharon Shipley Parker and her son-in-law Danny Garvin said they will close the store in mid- to late-April. Garvin Monday announced a big closing sale, with up to 40 percent off on certain items.
Ben Franklin’s has been a fixture on Catoctin Circle for as long as most Loudouners can remember. Residents have been used to diving into its extraordinarily diverse merchandise to find just the right thing. The store offered an unparalleled variety of craft and art items, a top-of-the-line framing shop, fabrics, sewing and knitting materials, seasonal decorations and a host of “where else could you find it” items. And a friendly and helpful staff always was available to guide shoppers around comfortably cluttered display aisles.
When all other sources failed, shoppers said “try Ben Franklin’s,” and, as often as not, the hard-to-find item was discovered right there on Catoctin Circle, “the busy end of Leesburg,” as veteran WAGE Radio broadcaster Bill Spencer was wont to say in the late 1960s.
But, increasingly over the past decade, that single source of items has found itself in competition with a widening number of stores carrying just the same items—such as seasonal decorations and Christmas tree lights. Wal-mart and Target, along with Home Depot, now carry many of the same items.
Originally, Ben Franklin was a chain of five and dime discount stores, founded in 1927 and located in small towns throughout the U.S. The stores were organized as franchises owned by independent proprietors. The name came from founding father Benjamin Franklin, and the company used his reported saying of “a penny saved is a penny earned” in its promotional materials.
“It was a franchise, and that’s how we got started,” Garvin said. Parker and her husband Chick, who lived in Damascus, MD, bought the franchise from its previous owner. Parker’s husband died in 2000, and Parker continued the business with Garvin, who had been involved with management and buying his way in almost from the beginning.
“It’s time,” Garvin said Monday, noting the economic climate has not been good over the past few years and Parker wants to spend more time with her grandchildren. “There’s a lot more competition, Sharon wants to retire, and our lease is up,” Garvin said.
Selling the store was not a feasible option, Garvin said. “Ten years ago we probably could have done that, but not now,” he said, citing not just the influx of competitors in the crafts market from national chains including Hobby Lobby or Michaels, but the impact of big box retailers as well.
“They’re carrying stuff we carry that they didn’t 10 years ago,” he said.
The dollar “gets split in a lot of directions,” Gavin said. “Everyone’s fighting for it; and it makes it difficult for a private independent business.”
“We’ve been here so long, we’ve had such a great run; things are changing,” Garvin said. He has worked at Ben Franklin’s since he was a senior at Loudoun County High School, and closing the store gives him the opportunity to do something else.
Ben Franklin has a staff of about 20, including part-timers, according to Garvin. It speaks volumes about the company that so many of them have worked at the store for so many years.
Monday, Yvette Gallahan and Melissa Lindsey added up their years at Ben Franklin’s—38 years for Yvette and about 26 years for Melissa. They’re very proud of the service they provide.
“It’s very comfortable here, like family,” Gallahan said. Lindsey also praised the owners. “They’re family.”
The owners share that feeling. “They are part of the family, as much a part of this as I or Sharon have been,” Garvin said.
He and Parker hope to help their employees as they look for other employment and face an uncertain future. “We have talked about how to help them—they’ve been so good to us—we haven’t worked out the details yet.”
When the news really hits, there is likely to be a run on the store’s many items. Yellow sticker merchandise is offered at a 20 percent discount, while “everything else, everyday and seasonal, is 40 percent off—then we’ll adjust as necessary,” Garvin said.
What the owners and staff will miss most are their customers.
“We were thinking of the different people that come in—we don’t know everyone’s name,” Garvin said. One regular is “Mike the flag man,” he said. “He’s a great customer,” Garvin said of Mike Sanders, who is familiar to Loudouners as he patriotically places small U.S. flags around the county.
“It’s people like that—there’s this one lady that comes in every Monday—those people have supported us for years,” Garvin said, citing even teachers he had in high school who come in on a regular basis. That’s the everyday contact he and his staff will miss the most, they said.
Parker manages the frame shop, which has the reputation of being the best place in town to get something framed. “She has a loyal customer base—from her church and women groups, friends and neighbors over the years. She’s framed their wedding pictures, their children, their high school graduations over the years,” according to her son-in-law.
As to whether there will be some kind of closing event, Garvin was uncertain. “We don’t know quite how to end it—we’re sort of overwhelmed right now. When this kind of thing happens, it’s sad, but we’ve been so fortunate over the past 40 years,” he said.
And likely that sense of loss will be felt by customers, as well. Monday, a woman, who had not realized the store was closing, was disconsolate as she paid for some candles—although not as many as she had wanted. “This is the only place I can get these rose candles,” she said—in a comment that many others may echo in the coming weeks.
Attachments:
http://www.leesburgtoday.com/business/leesburg-s-ben-franklin-to-close-after-years/article_29728858-99a0-11e3-97e8-0019bb2963f4.html
Fresh on the heels of the closing of Hallmark’s Treasure House in Leesburg at year’s end after 32 years in business, county residents will be saying goodbye to another Loudoun retail institution—the Ben Franklin store on Catoctin Circle.
After almost 40 years, co-owners and managers Sharon Shipley Parker and her son-in-law Danny Garvin said they will close the store in mid- to late-April. Garvin Monday announced a big closing sale, with up to 40 percent off on certain items.
Ben Franklin’s has been a fixture on Catoctin Circle for as long as most Loudouners can remember. Residents have been used to diving into its extraordinarily diverse merchandise to find just the right thing. The store offered an unparalleled variety of craft and art items, a top-of-the-line framing shop, fabrics, sewing and knitting materials, seasonal decorations and a host of “where else could you find it” items. And a friendly and helpful staff always was available to guide shoppers around comfortably cluttered display aisles.
When all other sources failed, shoppers said “try Ben Franklin’s,” and, as often as not, the hard-to-find item was discovered right there on Catoctin Circle, “the busy end of Leesburg,” as veteran WAGE Radio broadcaster Bill Spencer was wont to say in the late 1960s.
But, increasingly over the past decade, that single source of items has found itself in competition with a widening number of stores carrying just the same items—such as seasonal decorations and Christmas tree lights. Wal-mart and Target, along with Home Depot, now carry many of the same items.
Originally, Ben Franklin was a chain of five and dime discount stores, founded in 1927 and located in small towns throughout the U.S. The stores were organized as franchises owned by independent proprietors. The name came from founding father Benjamin Franklin, and the company used his reported saying of “a penny saved is a penny earned” in its promotional materials.
“It was a franchise, and that’s how we got started,” Garvin said. Parker and her husband Chick, who lived in Damascus, MD, bought the franchise from its previous owner. Parker’s husband died in 2000, and Parker continued the business with Garvin, who had been involved with management and buying his way in almost from the beginning.
“It’s time,” Garvin said Monday, noting the economic climate has not been good over the past few years and Parker wants to spend more time with her grandchildren. “There’s a lot more competition, Sharon wants to retire, and our lease is up,” Garvin said.
Selling the store was not a feasible option, Garvin said. “Ten years ago we probably could have done that, but not now,” he said, citing not just the influx of competitors in the crafts market from national chains including Hobby Lobby or Michaels, but the impact of big box retailers as well.
“They’re carrying stuff we carry that they didn’t 10 years ago,” he said.
The dollar “gets split in a lot of directions,” Gavin said. “Everyone’s fighting for it; and it makes it difficult for a private independent business.”
“We’ve been here so long, we’ve had such a great run; things are changing,” Garvin said. He has worked at Ben Franklin’s since he was a senior at Loudoun County High School, and closing the store gives him the opportunity to do something else.
Ben Franklin has a staff of about 20, including part-timers, according to Garvin. It speaks volumes about the company that so many of them have worked at the store for so many years.
Monday, Yvette Gallahan and Melissa Lindsey added up their years at Ben Franklin’s—38 years for Yvette and about 26 years for Melissa. They’re very proud of the service they provide.
“It’s very comfortable here, like family,” Gallahan said. Lindsey also praised the owners. “They’re family.”
The owners share that feeling. “They are part of the family, as much a part of this as I or Sharon have been,” Garvin said.
He and Parker hope to help their employees as they look for other employment and face an uncertain future. “We have talked about how to help them—they’ve been so good to us—we haven’t worked out the details yet.”
When the news really hits, there is likely to be a run on the store’s many items. Yellow sticker merchandise is offered at a 20 percent discount, while “everything else, everyday and seasonal, is 40 percent off—then we’ll adjust as necessary,” Garvin said.
What the owners and staff will miss most are their customers.
“We were thinking of the different people that come in—we don’t know everyone’s name,” Garvin said. One regular is “Mike the flag man,” he said. “He’s a great customer,” Garvin said of Mike Sanders, who is familiar to Loudouners as he patriotically places small U.S. flags around the county.
“It’s people like that—there’s this one lady that comes in every Monday—those people have supported us for years,” Garvin said, citing even teachers he had in high school who come in on a regular basis. That’s the everyday contact he and his staff will miss the most, they said.
Parker manages the frame shop, which has the reputation of being the best place in town to get something framed. “She has a loyal customer base—from her church and women groups, friends and neighbors over the years. She’s framed their wedding pictures, their children, their high school graduations over the years,” according to her son-in-law.
As to whether there will be some kind of closing event, Garvin was uncertain. “We don’t know quite how to end it—we’re sort of overwhelmed right now. When this kind of thing happens, it’s sad, but we’ve been so fortunate over the past 40 years,” he said.
And likely that sense of loss will be felt by customers, as well. Monday, a woman, who had not realized the store was closing, was disconsolate as she paid for some candles—although not as many as she had wanted. “This is the only place I can get these rose candles,” she said—in a comment that many others may echo in the coming weeks.
Attachments: