John Leidy owner Liz Arsenault and long-time employee Lyn Sleator stand at the front counter of the store located on E. Liberty St. in downtown Ann Arbor. Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The holiday season can be overwhelming for an independent retailer.

But it’s the weeks after the holiday that fit that description right now at the John Leidy Shop.

The store - a fixture on East Liberty for nearly 50 years - will close by the end of February.

The decision was difficult for the family, said Liz Leidy, daughter of the store’s founder and namesake.

“We’ve had a really hard time deciding to close the store,” she said. “It’s been very emotional. None of us Leidys have a memory of Ann Arbor without the store.”

Many people who have spent years in the city can say the same thing.

The emotional connections felt by long-time customers and residents remain strong. Lifelong Ann Arborites remember shopping at the store, receiving gifts from the store and even working at it.

The store once sat among one of the city’s busiest retail districts, which for years served as the primary shopping area for Washtenaw County.

The John Leidy store “was extremely popular,” recalled Max Goldman, whose family-owned the Marti Walker clothing store on South State Street in the building now occupied by Sava’s Restaurant.

At one time, Marti Walker was among 26 clothing retailers near South State. And in those years, the John Leidy Shop was the leading high-end gift store in town,
complementing the offerings at Jacobson’s, Wilkinson Leather on Main Street and Artisan on South University. All already have closed.

“When you gave a gift from Leidy’s, the recipient knew very well what the store was, so it was considered a very nice gift,” Goldman said.

John Leidy opened the store in 1951 with his late wife, who died in 1955. He married Ann Leidy in 1959, after meeting her at a trade show and persuading her to move from New York, where she worked for an importer.

The shop occupied two storefronts, on either side of the Michigan Theater, at that time.

One side sold fine china. The other stocked the everyday dinnerware. Today, those lines are merged into a single space after a decision four years ago to consolidate.

John Leidy died in 1993, but it’s still family-run store.

This photo, believed to be taken in 1975, shows when the John Leidy Shop occupied the storefronts on both sides of the Michigan Theater.

Photo from the Ann Arbor Architecture Archive of the Ann Arbor District Library.

Ann Leidy still works there. So does Lupe Leidy, who is married to John Leidy Jr. And Liz - who still uses the Leidy name along with her married name, Arsenault - returned to Michigan in 1990 after four years in California to work in the store.

Today, three other siblings live out of state - Ellen is in Vermont; Mary is in North Carolina; and Peter is in Wisconsin.

But all shared in the decision to close the store, Liz said.

The conversations, she said, started over recent years as the economics of running a traditional independent store in a changing retail environment eroded.

The consolidation signaled the first response to the changes. And there was hope that the store could survive.

“But this time we said (closing) might just be inevitable,” Liz said.

As the family and the store’s 6 employees move toward the late February closing date, they’re dealing with selling off the inventory. As the store clears, the fixtures will be sold.

But the family and staff also are saying goodbye. They’re close to each other. “We’ve known each other a long time,” Liz said.

They’re also close to customers, many of whom have shopped for their best tableware and most special gifts, like Georg Jensen jewelry, in the store.

Many come in as they hear that the store will close. But they’re not finding sadness. It’s an emotional time, Liz said, “but its’ been very, very nice. … It’s been overwhelming. And very busy. People want to linger.”

The Leidy closing signals the ongoing evolution of Ann Arbor’s retail district, Goldman said. It’s still vital, but the mix is changing toward a campus-oriented clientele and an entertainment district. Many retailers follow more contemporary trends, leaving a challenge for traditional stores amid the corresponding higher rental rates.

And the high-end tabletop business has changed, with mass-market merchants like Williams Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, and Ikea pushing more casual styles on all segments of the price spectrum. Manufacturers also are selling directly to customers. Liz recalls losing the popular Georg Jensen jewelry and tableware lines when the company decided to sell exclusively in their own stores.

Those types of changes pressured the John Leidy Shop, and the pressures continue for the remaining long-time businesses in town.

“We’re very sad about it,” said Bud VanDeWege Jr., second-generation owner of Moe’s Sport Shop on North University. “Even if you understand how it came to be.”

He hopes Ann Arbor holds onto its memories of the store.

“It’s vital to remember that the John Leidy Shop and Liz Leidy’s tenure there was a success,” he said. “… Just remember how long they were in business and how long they did very well.”

Liz won’t be alone by the last day the store is open. Staff, customers and family already are planning to join her there.

But as of now, she can’t say when that last day will come. The lease runs through the end of February, and she plans to stay open as long as it takes to clear the store.

Some days, it seems like it could come sooner. Other days, she’s convinced she’ll need all of February.

But for now, she’s thankful to her staff and customers. And she’s thankful that the weeks spend preparing to close so far have been uplifting and positive. She’s been in the store as much as possible.

“I really don’t want to take a day off,” she said. “I’ve wanted to see everyone who’s come in. I’ve wanted to thank everyone.”

There’s even a renewed connection to her father through the process.

She knows that he’d be greeting their customers by name, and thanking them, too.

She also thinks he’d be proud of the family’s tough decision. And that he’d be supporting them as they wind down the store that together they built into an Ann Arbor institution.

If John Leidy were still around, Liz said, “I think he’d be helping us.”

Paula Gardner is business director of AnnArbor.com. She can be contacted at PaulaGardner@AnnArbor.com or 734-623-2586.