By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Lewis Wildman spent Tuesday shutting down Jordan’s Stationery and Gifts in the Princeton Shopping Center, his store of nearly 34 years that had served its final customer last week.
Two women helped him put parts of his inventory into boxes. What he does not keep and try to resell, he will give away. What he cannot give away, he will leave behind.
He has two weeks from July 1 — his official last day in business — to be out.
“It’s OK, we’re moving on,” he told a woman who offers him words of sympathy.
Alternately walking through the aisles empty of customers and sitting at his desk, Mr. Wildman was reflective. He is curious to see what will move in to replace him. At 71, he spoke of “maybe” finding a job.
He said he still needs to work, except it will not be at the shopping center for the third-generation businessman who followed his grandfather and father by having his own store.
Jordan’s opened in November 1982. In that time, Mr. Wildman prided himself on knowing his customers, who walked through Jordan’s doors looking for a card or whatever else they needed.
He said he “tried to fill the need of a variety of clientele,” hence the variety of items on the shelves. The napkins for the children’s party; the poster board for a school project; the greeting card in a foreign language.
Technology might have caught up to him, though.
In a store still selling photo albums and letter openers, Mr. Wildman found himself competing for business with the same customers who just as easily could create an invitation with the click of a mouse as they could pay him to do it.
Handling birth announcements was a regular staple of his business, he recalled in doing as many as four of them a week. Today, he said he had not done one in four years.
He said he believes stores like his are a dying breed, although his customers were sad to see him go. They had shared sentiments in a book for him, words that made him “emotional” as he read them, he said.
The interaction with the people is what he will miss the most, he said.
“Making a living is a close second,” he said with a touch of humor.
But he is not leaving on his terms.
Mr. Wildman said he intended to stay in business, slow down a little to work fewer days per week and run the store. His landlord, Edens, the owner of the shopping center, had other ideas; the company decided not to renew his lease.
It was an unpopular move with his customers, who were furious. But it comes at a time when the shopping center — from its aesthetics to the businesses coming in — is changing in ways seen directly around Jordan’s.
Just out the front window, Nomad Pizza, a gourmet pizza restaurant, opened two months ago in an erstwhile service station. And a few doors down, Orvis, the high-end clothing retailer, opened last fall. Edens also is improving traffic circulation.
Yet for Mr. Wildman, he looks with optimism to his post-Jordan’s future.
“It’s a new chapter,” he said. “I’m fine.”
