If you have shopped over the years in downtown Palm Springs, you will find that a lot of the old stores that we are used to opened are now gone... Here is another, not due to the fact of $$$, but age & time to retire...I say, where are the family members to run the shop, just like family businesses did in the old days...
Florsheim Shoes, a downtown Palm Springs staple for 60 years, has closed its doors.
The store's owner, Pearl Frank, has decided that at age 94 she's ready to stop working and spend with family.
"I'm not ready for retirement yet," she cautions, saying she'll stay active as she moves to Los Angeles to be with her great grandchildren.
"Maybe in a couple years. But not now."
The store, at 184 N. Palm Canyon, opened in 1947, Frank said. The store's original wooden sign still hung above the cash register.
Frank said her late husband, Todd Frank, was an original owner. But old phone books and officials with the Palm Springs Historical Society say the store was owned by the Grone family during the 1950s.
Pearl Frank took over the store about 13 years ago when her husband died.
Despite her age and a problematic back, she's continued to come to work every day with the store's longtime assistant, Doris Merritt.
It's here that locals and Coachella Valley visitors from across the globe have come in for the high-end shoes and countless other brands, including Rockport and Sperry Top-Sider.
And each gets personal attention when they walk in the door and past the 150-year-old George Washington desk that displayed shoes.
Each would be asked: What are you looking for? What are your needs?
Even after all these years, the ladies say they can see a customer's face and while they might not remember the name, they'll recall what size they wore and what they purchased last time.
"It isn't just selling shoes," Frank said of the personal attention they give.
"A sale isn't just cut and dry."
The store stopped buying new inventory last spring, and had initially planned on staying open through the end of the year.
Business was still good at the end, Merritt said. Though in its heyday, the upscale shoe store had eight or nine assistants on the sales floor.
The store's last day was pushed up to the end of November.
But don't expect Frank to slow down just because she's not working.
"I like being around people," she said. "Retiring is not so exciting."
So, what are your thoughts?
David
P.S. I have shopped at this store & bought a nice pair of dress shoe!
I really like Downtown Palm Springs, my favorite store is Canyon Rose Boutique. I can always plan to blow my budget when I shop there. You got to check out the purses.
Shirley