MARIEMONT, Ohio - For generations it's been the go-to place for unique gifts and cards you just couldn't find anywhere else.
But Monday was the last day of business for The Vlllager, and it was a day of sad goodbyes.
The shop on Madisonville Road earned the love of customers for 69 years. It was called the Mariemont 5 Cents to $1 store when Shirley Burroughs visited as a little girl.
Burroughs was also one of the last customers.
“I saw that it was closing and I was ... I just couldn't believe it,” Burroughs said.
Burroughs came from Indian Hill on the store's last day to browse through the cards the shop was best known for.
“Our cards - that's what I'm going to miss, too,” said shop owner Carol Desmond.
Desmond made it her business to stock the best selection of cards anywhere.
“A lot of it was from customers that would come in and say, ‘Hey, I was traveling and I saw this card,’” Desmond said. “Then I'd research it and that's how we brought in a lot of our lines.
“We had people come in from all over that would come in and buy 20, 30 cards at a time."
Back in the day customers could always find treasures - from unique books to toys. Now the old cash registers are treasures themselves.
Desmond just gave away an old stamp machine from the post office she had in the shop. She's also giving a lot to Craig Smith for the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop.
“I enjoy small specialty shops and it's nice to get good customer service, and unfortunately that's a dying breed,” Smith said. “I hate to see that leave here.”
The building needs rehabbing and that’s why Desmond says her lease was not renewed. She had a good 27 years as owner of the shop her mother managed before that.
“So many people have come in and been so supportive. say how they hate to see it go,” Desmond said. “We've got the ‘I Love You’ sign in our window, which was nice to see. It's so nice to get all the positive comments from all the people around. It's been great.”
"It's a place in Mariemont that can never be replaced," said Burroughs. "It will be sorely missed by a lot of people."
Anything left after the going-out-of-business sale will be donated to local charities.
