Mike Simon's Hard Decision to Close the Merra-Lee Stores

Michael Simon's father, Sol, opened the in 1929 in a building that's right next to where is today.

Sol moved the business to its present location at what has to be considered the nexus of , the intersection of Third Street and State Street, and started expanding his businesses in 1963.

For anyone who has lived here, the Merra-Lee is one of those stores that seemed like it always was and always will be. On Friday morning, on , Mike announced "the beginning of the last chapter of the Merra-Lee Shops."

I talked to Mike late Friday morning shortly after the announcement and asked how hard it must be to close businesses your father founded.

“My guess is he probably would have done the same thing a long time ago,” he said. “He’s more pragmatic than I am. I’m more emotional.

“It was only this fall that we really began to see a change. We remodeled in the spring, and that took off. Merra-Lee had a great spring and summer. But in September, things started turning south, and they stayed that way.”

Simon said the hard part was making the decision, not only because of his father’s business legacy but because of the people—employees and customers—whose lives would be affected. Now that the announcement has been made, he’s looking forward to putting his energy into running and finding new tenants for the Merra-Lee properties.

I asked him why he decided to close all five stores—Merra-Lee, , and .

“It seemed to make some sense to cut the cord all at once and then move all my efforts to the Traveler,” he said. “Part of it is, there is a lot of support staff involved, and it would be hard to run one business without the support the others. I didn’t want to close one or two and compromise on the service that we gave.”

As reported in the , the Merra–Lee shops are closed today (Friday) through Tuesday and will reopen at 9 a.m. sharp Wednesday.

A company that specializes in liquidation is handling the going-out-of-business sales and transitions. Simon said the stores will be open at least through the Christmas season.

“They (the liquidation company managers) are overseeing the sales, so today, big signs are going into the windows,” he said. “They’ll handle the different phases, and they know how to lay out the store and what advertising needs to be done.

“We’ve talked to the staff, and we’ll continue to have the same level of service and meet customers’ expectations as long as the stores are open.”

What kinds of tenants will he seek, and where does the process go from here?

“Since nobody knew about this until this morning, I’m waiting to see who calls and knocks on the door,” he said. “My goal is to find a business or businesses that drive traffic into Geneva—people who will be long-term contributors and destinations for shoppers, like Chef Roby (owner of the .)”

Sol Simon expanded the Merra-Lee group in 1966 or ‘67, when he opened Petticoat Lane. The Meeting Place followed in 1972 and others followed that. Mike Simon got involved in the early ‘80s. He opened Complete Petite, Petticoat Lane became She She, and there were other stages of evolution along the way.

Sol became co-owner of The Little Traveler in 1971, and Mike continues to co-own the destination store with Alvin Rosenthal.

I asked Mike about the effects of the recession on store owners in general and retail in particular in Geneva.

“Obviously, it’s affected the Merra-Lee group,” he said. “But The Traveler hasn’t been affected—our numbers are up for the store and the restaurant, primarily I think because it's a destination. It’s still a lot of fun, and we’re optimistic about the Christmas season.”

He also pointed out that change is not necessarily a bad thing for Geneva.

“When you look at the downtown, everything has evolved with the exception of us, and . Having a business that lasts 82 years is very unusual. I’ve already started getting calls from Realtors, and we’ll be looking forward to bringing something different to Geneva.”

As he said in his letter to his customers, Simon is looking forward to being able to devote his full attention to The Little Traveler.

“Not having to run in as many directions will be nice,” he said. “My older son, Dan, was all in favor of it. He’s more pragmatic than I am, too. He said, ‘Dad, I know you’re stressed a lot. Now you’re not going to be stressed.’ “