The pinging sound of the cash register isn’t typical. The vintage unit looks like it’s just for show, but Sammy Knox, co-owner of McGregor and Company, bought it in working condition at a garage sale the summer before she opened the country gift shop in Old Town Silverdale in 1995. The trusty register has been with her over the years, just as the many friends she’s made along the way.
“It’s my customers I’ll miss,” said Knox, 68, on the store’s soon-to-be closure.
Ready for retirement, Knox and her husband Frank, decided it was time to close the store that has been in business for 16 years and has been a mainstay in Silverdale’s oldest section. Knox will go into full retirement. McGregor and Company’s last day of business will be Saturday.
“What are you going to do with all your time?” asked Ruth Searer, a longtime customer, after first giving Knox a hug as she entered the store Jan. 28. “You’ll be going crazy.”
Although Knox said the reason for the closure is so she can retire, business had not necessarily been booming the past few years.
“There’s not a retail business out there that wouldn’t say it could be better,” she said.
Despite the rocky national economy, most businesses in Silverdale have been able to weather the storm, according to the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce.
Save for HoneyBaked Ham in Silverdale closing last month, the Chamber has not received word of any other closures, said Angela Sell, the Chamber’s president. Currently the Chamber has about 379 members and on average gains about five to six new members a month, Sell said. About six members leave the Chamber in a year’s time. The general state of business in Silverdale is “stable and on the upswing,” Sell said.
“The general mood is, things are picking up,” she said. “We’re seeing an increase in business (over what) we had in the last two years.”
Trader Joe’s filed for permits with the county and were approved in November, but a Silverdale location is not listed on the company’s website as a store that will soon open.
On Wednesday, Sell said the Chamber would be announcing its new executive director Friday. The position has been vacant since former Executive Director Michael Broome left in September without explanation.
Kitsap Mall is at 94 percent capacity, according to Senior Property Manager Rene Morris. The mall’s occupancy has “dropped some” since November and December because of tenants that only stay during the holiday season, she added Tuesday.
After being the one person working the store for the past two years, Knox has a few ideas on what she will do with her time. She’s always enjoyed art. Her husband is building her a studio at home and she knows a 6-year-old prodigy who is going to teach her how to paint. She’s always had a nurturing spot in her heart for children. Along with receiving art lessons from the 6-year-old, she hopes to be a mentor for him.
The store is not named after any “McGregor.” It’s just a name that was easy to use, Knox said. The “company” that the store name includes refers to everyone who came to the shop on Lowell Street. Back when it first opened, the store not only sold household items and gifts but also included a post office, she said. Judy Duchemin, 65, ran the post office that contracted out of the gift shop until about 2005.
“This is bittersweet for sure,” Duchemin said as she helped Knox as cashier last week. “Talk about friendships that will last.”
Even though the post office portion closed about six years ago, Duchemin still came by from time to time to help Knox with the store. When McGregor and Company opened, Duchemin said they had a deal that Knox would not sell stamps and she would not make coffee. The store sells coffee and espresso. “Now I can make coffee,” she added.
Knox said an 80-year-old woman would come in for coffee every week and they would chat about religion and politics. Her customers range in age from 20 to 90, she said. And the store’s closure is just as emotional for them as it is for her.
“It’s a cheery, homey place to come to,” Searer of Silverdale said, adding that she will miss the friendships she has formed with the owners.
And Central Kitsap residents are not the only ones bidding farewell.
“It’s going to be hard to come to Old Town and not see you,” Candace Miller of Olalla said to Knox. Miller said she doesn’t shop at malls because she prefers small shops like McGregor and Company where shoppers get personal attention.
Just like malls have anchor stores that connect everything together, McGregor and Company was like Old Town’s anchor, said Maria Mackovjak, owner of Old Town Custom Framing and Gallery. She said she is sad to see Knox leave.
“She’s definitely a force that has held us together,” Mackovjak said.
