Main Street shop closing

Customers lament endof specialty store

By:Mary Ellen Zangara
   To borrow from the nursery rhyme: Sugar and spice and everything nice — that’s what Gordon’s, one of Main Street’s favorite businesses, was made of.
   But after many years in Manville, Gordon’s is closing.
   Gordon’s Sugar-N-Spice owner Dorothy Gordon has decided that it was time to say goodbye to the retail business after opening here almost 13 years ago, and will be closing her doors shortly after the beginning of the new year.
   Ms. Gordon and Richard Puzio have run the shop since opening in 1990. They rented the store in August 1990, and spent about six months restoring and renovating furniture by hand before opening.
   Ms. Gordon almost opened her store in Milltown, which was closer to where she worked a full-time job at the time, but a problem at the location prevented the opening.
   "We had everything ordered and we went into the store after it rained and it smelled of fuel oil," she said. "So we decided no. I had already made all of my vendor contacts."
   Without a location, Ms. Gordon didn’t know where to look until she came across an ideal location.
   "We were just driving through Manville saw the sign for rent and we checked with Irene Cyburt," Ms. Gordon said. "It was available and we said OK."
   At first this all started just as a hobby from her home. She had been making chocolates out of her house, which her sister, who worked for National Starch, would sell to other National Starch employees. Ms. Gordon said as soon as the people from National Starch heard she was opening a shop in Manville, they all started coming in to the new store.
   The growing business also benefited from Ms. Gordon’s alma mater — Immaculata High School in Somerville. She said she knew a lot of people in the area from her high school days and was familiar with the town of Manville.
   "It was a nice small town and that was important to know all my people — the customers," commented Ms. Gordon. She felt a mall wouldn’t allow her the opportunity to get to know her customers as well as a Main Street location.
   In the early years Gordon’s Sugar-N-Spice featured just homemade candies and spices. Soon, crafts were added to the store’s inventory. Ms. Gordon had made contacts with crafters and she started traveling all over to find different and unusual crafts for the store.
   "A lot of our pieces came form Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida," she said. "I wanted to be unique and give the town something that they didn’t have."
   The Italian ices they featured were always one of the most popular lines in the store, along with the penny candy. Many customers enjoyed visiting the store just to fill up a little white paper bag with candy and spend a few cents for it. The candy was in the center isle of the store in a display with pull-out drawers, allowing customers to get their own bags.
   Later, the store became filled with a showcase of homemade chocolates, crafts, candles, porcelain dolls, stuffed animals, jewelry and more. Many items were imported or purchased from all over the United States, making it a popular shop for gifts.
   Gordon’s Sugar-N-Spice participated in the annual street fair, gave donations to local groups and supported the town whenever possible throughout the years.
   Many of the store’s customers have been shopping there since the first day. One of them visited for the Christmas holiday coming back home here to Manville — Josephine Letts, who came back to visit her mother, Sophie Kinal.
   "We come to visit my mother every Christmas and for my daughter and I this is our first and favorite stop," Ms. Letts said. "We used to come here when they served Italian ice when my kids were little and now it’s just gift shopping and I’m going to miss this store very, very much. I think it’s a big loss to Manville and I hate to see this small town shop closing."
   Ms. Gordon was teary eyed as she said she that the reason they were closing was because, after almost 13 years, she couldn’t continue working a full-time job as well as the store. Both she and Mr. Puzio, who joined Ms. Gordon in the store soon after it opened, have worked long days to run the store. Neither really wanted to leave, but a decision was made to close.
   Ms. Gordon said she will miss the people here and wanted to thank them for their patronage all these past years.
   The store will remain open until the final day of Jan. 11 with the hours of Monday-Friday 10-6 and Saturdays 10-5. All the merchandise will be up to 75 percent off until the last day.
   After that, Gordon’s Sugar-N-Spice will be another memory in the history of Main Street Manville.