The Old Town Card Shop is saying farewell – to Old Town at least.
The locally owned speciality store which has been designing and selling original Southwest Christmas and note cards among other cards since 1957 will close its doors on Saturday.
Owner Sandra Townsend says it is time for her to retire, relax and spend some time with her grandchildren while she runs the business online at home.
“It’s time for me to simplify my life,” she said, adding that the change will allow her to save on the overhead and stress of running the store in east Old Town by herself.
Townsend has run the business by herself after her husband Rod Townsend died in 2002. Rod did the silk screen printing of card designs by Harry Leighton, who opened the business in Old Town in 1957, and Sandra Townsend, for years.
Leighton and Townsend created more than 700 silk screen designs over the years. Some of those designs include Southwestern images, butterflies, Indian rugs and others that were produced as greeting or note cards.
Townsend lives in the East Mountains and drives in daily to run the shop. She has recently suffered from shingles and a stress fracture in her foot and says it is now too much to keep Old Town Card Shop open.
“I cannot keep up with the stress of running this myself and I can’t afford to pay someone,” she told the Journal during an interview at the store in Plaza Hacienda.
Although one employee, Sharon Winget, has been with the company for more than 40 years, another two or three would have been needed to continue running it.
“I feel so sad for my customers but I hope they understand,” Townsend said.
Leighton opened the shop in the same plaza it resides in now but in a different space across the patio, Townsend said.
The Townsends retired Leighton, now 94, about 20 years ago and continued running the business themselves. Townsend said the shop has quite a following, selling “as many as 40,000 cards during the Christmas card rush annually.”
The shop has been busy since the closing sale began. Everything is 75 percent off. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Saturday. The store’s website www.oldtowncardshop.com will sell off inventory of “overprint jobs” for now.
— This article appeared on page B1 of the Albuquerque Journal
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at rbrodsky@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3820
