A Stroll Down Memory Lane

In early December I received a mailer from Hallmark because I am a Gold Card member. It included a $2.00 gift certificate and some other coupons offering bonus points on purchases. Since my nephew’s birthday is in early January, I thought I would use the certificate and get him a card.

So I trekked off to Memory Lane—my local independent Hallmark Gold Crown store. When I pulled into the parking lot I was shocked to find a huge yellow, red and black “RETIREMENT SALE—Everything Must Go” banner strung across the front of the store.

One of the clerks informed me that the landlord was jacking up the rent substantially come February, and the owners were getting old so they decided to throw in the towel. I was kind of upset to see the store close because they always had nice cards and gift items, and also because they were no longer honoring Hallmark coupons.

The population of my town is more than 50,000. At one time, we had upwards of four card stores. Memory Lane was the last one left and now it is gone.

While it is sad to see a store like Memory Lane go, it does open up an opportunity for my local supermarkets to increase their presence of card sales. Our town’s ShopRite has a very large Hallmark section and the Stop & Shop across town does a good job with cards too, as does the Acme (formerly A&P) just down the road from Memory Lane, in the next town.

But the biggest beneficiary of Memory Lane’s demise could be A. Seabra’s, a Portuguese-owned ethnic supermarket in the same shopping center as Memory Lane. I have never purchased cards in A. Seabra’s. Come to think of it, I do not even remember seeing greeting cards in their store.

“If supermarkets are not selling greeting cards it is really a mistake,” Carlos LLansό, president of the Greeting Card Association industry trade group told me as I was working on this month’s greeting cards nonfoods feature.

A. Seabra’s management would be wise to put in an extensive card department now that Memory Lane is gone. If I were them I would put a big sign in the window stating: “Welcome Memory Lane customers. We now sell greeting cards.”

Since A. Seabra’s targets Hispanic and Filipino customers, in addition to the mainstream population, I would also include a section of greeting cards in those languages.  It would be a hit with the store’s customers, benefit the bottom line and definitely be something to write home about.