From Nemitz to Evenson’s Hallmark, the Main Street store served Austin for over 50 years

To call the Evenson’s Hallmark Store a fixture on Austin’s Main Street would just not be telling it right.

It built its reputation back in the days when it sold caramel corn and popcorn balls, and how those smells could be enjoyed up and down Main Street.

Or, the Christmas rush that brought in lines of customers.

“And everyone greeted you by name,” said Michelle Lane, a customer who on Thursday had just heard that the store would close by  the end of January.

She enveloped manager Jeanne Anderson in a bear hug, an astonished look on her face.

“I just can’t believe it,” Lane said. Customers standing nearby nodded their heads in agreement. Some cried.

Anderson wiped her eyes.

“We’re all in shock,” Anderson said. “It was very much a surprise.”

Neil Evenson, president of the Evenson organization based in St. Paul, said it was not a happy decision to make — but one that had to be made. A sister store in Owatonna will close, too. The Evensons operate 21 stores in the Midwest.

He said a combination of factors impacted the decision to close the Austin store. A rise in minimum wage, the 2008 housing crisis and the need for new equipment combined to close some stores.

He said there were 5,000 Hallmark stores before 2008, when the effects of the housing crisis permeated the economy.

“Today, we are down to 2,000 stores,” he said. “People quit shopping that year and it really hasn’t come back.” He added that sales in the company have dropped 10 percent each year from the previous year, in every year since 2008.

He added that if the store were to remain open, he would have had to install a new $20,000 cash register system. The store could not afford that, he said.

“I feel bad,” he said. “This is not anything that our employees did; we have had great employees. It’s all about external factors.”

Austin Chamber of Commerce executive director, Sandy Forstner, said it would be hard to imagine not having Hallmark on Main Street.

“It’s been a landmark,” he added. He said he hoped to talk more with the Evensons to see if there was anything that could be done to keep the store open.

Anderson said it will be hard to close the door for the last time. She has been a part of Hallmark stores at that location since 1973, when she was still in high school.

She first worked for Gary and Larry Nemitz, whose dad Henry established a tobacco shop on the site. The brothers later purchased the store, moved the tobacco shop downstairs into the basement, and opened a Hallmark store on the first floor. The brothers’ cousin, Bonnie Mogen, managed the store for many years. Mogen later purchased the store and ran it for 20 years and then sold it to the Evensons. Mogen retained ownership of the building, which is for sale, according to Anderson.

Anderson, who took over management of the store in 2009, said the closing is as much about family as anything.

“For years, co-workers were like family, and alway friends. We always got along,” said Anderson. “And our customers were my best friends.”

The store will have a 30 percent-off sale through the weeks to closing, said Anderson.