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	The Manchester Enterprise A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Christine Fegan selling Village Gifts

Dry-cleaning business also might close

By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers

PUBLISHED: May 10, 2007

Unless a buyer is found soon, an institution in the downtown area will close its doors for good.

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A large sign in the window of Village Gifts, 134 E. Main St., announces 70 percent off everything in the store and inside shelving and display racks are even being sold.

Christine Fegan, owner of Village Gifts and its companion, the Village Laundry, said it was difficult to give up the business she has built over the past five years, but now is the right time to do it.

"This decision has been coming for a long time," said Fegan, who works full-time as a radiation therapist for the University of Michigan Health System.

"To try and balance both became too time-consuming."

The clearance sale began after the holidays at 50 percent off, and items just recently were marked down again.

"It's been a free-for-all the last couple of days," Fegan said last week. "It's been kind of a slow process, and I had to speed it along a little bit."

Longtime customers exchanged hugs and reminisced with Fegan as she rang up their final purchases.

Liz Wallace of Manchester was selectively harvesting greeting cards from a still-extensive array.

"I'm just interested in the cards," Wallace said. "I like to send cards to people."

Judi Bejma of Manchester said she was checking out the sale with a friend, Nancy Holmes, who was visiting from Arkansas.

"I'm not very happy about (the store closing)," Bejma said. "It's sad to see so many of these little stores go."

Holmes said she, too, will miss the little gift shop.

"Every time I came up here, we made it a point to stop in," she said.

The store's part-time staff included Kathy LaHaie, Ashley Lenhart, Maggie Sucha, Danell Proctor and Angie Schaible.

"They were all instrumental in making it run smoothly," Fegan said.

She has owned the gift shop since September 2002, taking it over from Bill and Peg Chizmar, who had owned it for six years.

At one point, the store served as the village post office, Fegan said.

She put the store on the market in January and has had some interest in the building.

With the loss of Village Gifts, Manchester also is losing its only dry-cleaning establishment, The Village Cleaners, in the rear of the gift shop.

Fegan noted that if no one bought the cleaners, she would try to make arrangements with another local merchant to keep it going.

"I'd be happy to relocate it to a place here in town, and hopefully service won't be interrupted for anyone," she said. "That's what got me coming in here: the dry cleaning."

After she gives up ownership of the store, Fegan will have to give up something else that has been very important to her, the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce.

"I will finish out my term as president, and the next election is in October," she said.