Lubbock gardeners and holiday shoppers will have to say goodbye to a nearly 60-year-old storefront soon, as the owners announced their retirement on Tuesday.
Holland Gardens, 3739 50th St., announced the start of a retirement sale on Tuesday, which will continue through February. Once done, the store will close after 59 years in business.
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"We hope we have made a difference with your gardening experience and with our Christmas displays each year," Wayne and Ann Holland stated on a social media post. "Our knowledgeable, dedicated employees have made the difference! Please drop us a note that we can add to our Book of Memories about a particular experience."
The closure sale will have items ranging between 50%-60% off, with new merchandise coming in every week.
Related: Holland Gardens celebrates 50 years, owners ready for 50 more
Commenters on the announcement mourned the pending closure, but congratulated the couple who began the business on April 8, 1965. Fans reminisced about family trips, Christmas finds that made their holiday, and other moments that highlighted how much of an impact the shop had on the community.
According to an Avalanche-Journal feature story marking Holland Gardens' 50th anniversary in 2014, the garden store's famous seasonal Christmas display came early in their history as the owners decided they needed to create a second season to keep business going throughout the entire year.
"We started having hard freezes in the fall and that kind of slowed the gardening business down," Wayne Holland said for the 2014 article. "We had people on the payroll and so we had the idea of putting in a Christmas store for the second season. We started that back in 1974."
With the help of Gayle Holland, Wayne's sister, they created what Wayne calls a "Christmas Wonderland" that has become a Lubbock tradition during the holiday season, even after it moved in 2002 to its current location at 50th Street and Memphis Avenue.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Holland Gardens in Lubbock will close after 59 years