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Dilworth shop Maddi’s Gallery is closing after a decade of selling handmade artwork, crafts and specialty gifts, owners Madis and Diane Sulg announced Thursday.
Charlotte-based Rhyneland Inc., which owns the building Maddi’s Gallery has occupied for 10 years, recently decided to sell it. The Sulgs would need to relocate their business.
“For about 24 hours, we looked around (for possible locations), thought about it and said, ‘At our age, starting over again when you’re well past retirement – it isn’t in the cards,’ ” Madis, 69, told the Observer. (Diane is 66 years old.)
The Sulgs are calling the closeout their “retirement sale.” It will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, and all inventory will be at least 30 percent off.
There will be interim markdowns until the final day of business, Jan. 19. All sales are final, and the Sulgs are encouraging customers to use their store coupons and gift certificates.
Fixtures and furniture are for sale, too.
Maddi’s Gallery opened at 1530 East Blvd. in Dilworth in October 2002. The flagship store is one door down from Lebowski’s Neighborhood Grill and across the street from Cantina 1511.
Two years later, the couple opened a second location at Birkdale Village in Huntersville that was accompanied by a restaurant in 2007, Maddi’s Southern Bistro. They closed the Birkdale location in 2010.
“The recession up there was more than we could handle,” Madis said.
Madis estimates the store has more than 40,000 customers on file and has worked with more than 1,000 vendors.
The store’s unifying theme was its handmade offerings, most of which were crafted by Americans.
In 2009, Niche Magazine and trade association the Rosen Group selected Maddi’s Gallery from a field of more than 600 nominees to be the nation’s “Top Retailer of American Craft.”
“We’ve had a wonderful run, we’ve really enjoyed it and we’ve dealt with one heck of a lot of really good people,” said Madis.
But it will be nice to relax and enjoy retirement, he added.
He saw evidence of that Wednesday morning, when he and Diane were getting ready.
“My wife said, ‘I’d really just like to stay in bed and read a book,’ ” Madis said. “At some point in your life, that’s not a bad alternative.”
