Closing Time

Last weekend, my mom called to tell me that the Lang Store was closing its Brookfield location and was selling its merchandise at reduced prices.  I was able to get to the Lang Store to check out what was left during the week.  The store is PACKED with merchandise - all marked 50-60 % off.  I restrained myself and only purchased a few items, though I'm still thinking about a couple things that I saw that I didn't buy.  The store will close its doors at the end of February.

As I shopped, I couldn't help but think about how sad it is that the store is closing.  Before Lang moved into its current location on Bluemound, the store was located in New Berlin.  Before the New Berlin store opened, the only retail stores could be found in Mayfair and at Johnson Creek.  Yet it wasn't at the retail stores that I did my shopping - it was at the semi-annual Lang warehouse sales in Delafield.  For years, my mom and I braved the crowds of women (and the occasional man) and armed ourselves with cardboard boxes to shop for calendars, candles, and Christmas cards priced far below the cost of the items found in the retail stores.  It was truly an adventure - we never knew what we would find once we were admitted into the Lang warehouse.  It was an event that my mom and I never missed and always looked forward to. 

Once Lang moved to New Berlin, it was never the same.  There were sales, but prices were higher and crowds were thinner.  My mom and I only attended one sale at the store.  I stopped in occasionally to browse the items, but I didn't spend nearly as much money there as I did during their warehouse sales. 

The economy has forced a lot of businesses to close their doors, but I wonder if Lang had remained in Delafield and had continued their warehouse sales, would they be in the situation that they are in now? 

In other closing news, I found out yesterday that Serendipity, the scrapbook store that is now located in downtown Waukesha, is also closing at the end of March.  That store, too, moved from the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, which is located close to school, to the downtown area.  I stopped there all the time at their former location, and shopped at the downtown store just once.  Again, would they still be thriving if they hadn't moved?  I guess we'll never know.