LIVERMORE FALLS — After almost a century of business, Foss Jewelry Store at 37 Main St. is closing.
Owner Katy Botka-Quirrion announced her decision Wednesday on the store’s Facebook page. She had not set a closing date, the post said.
“I hate change. I’m having a hard time being completely done,” she said.
“I really wanted to do 100 years,” she said. “I’ve had it in my head forever, but I can’t keep costing my family to run this place.”
The store opened in 1919.
Among the reasons for closing, Botka-Quirrion said, are staffing, the increase in the minimum wage, insurance, parking and internet competition.
“I tried as long as I could,” she said Thursday.
She said store manager Anne Winter is ready to retire after working for three generations of owners.
That meant hiring someone at $9 an hour, the new minimum wage — up from $7.50.
“I can’t hire someone at $9 per hour to train them. That’s ridiculous,” Botka-Quirrion said.
Another issue is the building’s nearness to Church Street. Botka-Quirrion said she has called the Maine Department of Transportation several times because tractor-trailers keep hitting the building. If the stop sign has been taken out, the building got hit, too. The drivers don’t even know, she said.
“It doesn’t help my insurance,” she said.
Parking is another factor. Parking spaces next to the store were eliminated during a construction project in 2011.
“Elderly people I see at the salon say they can’t come because there’s no place to park. That’s huge. It hurts,” Botka-Quirrion said. She works part time at Jo’s Hair Fashion in Jay.
She said it is also hard to compete with big-box stores and internet sales. She has tried to bring in new items to attract younger customers. “If it wasn’t in the showcase, people didn’t realize we could get it,” she said.
Botka-Quirrion admitted she isn’t computer savvy. She said she didn’t take the time to do the internet thing.
“It was different in my grandfather’s time,” she said. “Everybody shopped local. He fixed everything.”
Foss Jewelry Store was founded at another Main Street site in May 1919 by Lester Foss. The store has been a landmark at Main and Church streets since 1952.
Botka-Quirrion’s grandfather, George “Henry” Botka, was a watchmaker by trade. His wife was Foss’s niece. The Botkas worked at the store and bought it in 1959. They sold the store to their son, Stephen, in 1999. Botka-Quirrion has owned the store since 2009.
“There are a lot of nines involved. I gave it a shot for nine years,” she said.
She said she will continue to do plaques, trophies and engraving through her Facebook page. The signs will stay up for a while, too.
Foss Jewelry Store is open Wednesday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., depending on customers. If it isn’t busy, it may close earlier, the owner said. Most merchandise is 40 percent off. Fine jewelry, watch repairs and engravings are not included in the sale.
pharnden@sunmediagroup.net
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