Whimsical store is not beloved enough
Heartfelt a victim of changing shopping habits
Two shoppers bustled into Heartfelt on Cortland, a gift shop in Bernal Heights, on Monday to give store owner Darcy Lee hugs. They were responding to Lee’s announcement on Facebook the previous day about her store closing after 20 years of her ownership.
“This has been my morning — talking to distraught customers and consoling them,” Lee, 66, said with a laugh.
For locals and tourists, the quirky store at 436 Cortland Ave. is a haven, offering books, mugs, jewelry, toys, blankets, flowers and much more. It bills itself as a “handsome tribute to the old-school general store.”
Heartfelt’s closure comes as empty storefronts line San Francisco streets, owing to rising rents, declining foot traffic and consumers’ increasing preference for online shopping. Lee is an outlier in San Francisco: She owns the building where her shop is located, so rent increases have not been an issue. However, sluggish sales and changing shopping habits — not to mention the mortgage — have hurt.
“I’m selling the building and closing the business because my numbers are down drastically,” Lee said. “Sales for 2019 have been shocking.”
Gross sales for the store have been flat for the last three years, at around $1 million, she said. So far in 2019, revenue is down 25%. In January and February, Lee said, she suffered a loss of $45,000.
“It’s extreme and not sustainable for me anymore,” she said.
Heartfelt is the latest business in Bernal Heights to close. The store next to Heartfelt, at 432 Cortland, is vacant, though the owners are applying for a conditional-use permit to allow for a mixed-use property with three stories over a basement. A former liquor store across the street at 439 Cortland is vacant too, and Iron and Gold, a popular bar, recently closed after eight years in business.
Loyal customer Logan Kuglazz, 27, was saddened to hear about Heartfelt’s closure. “I’m not going to leave until I buy everything I need,” she said, holding a pack of naturally scented soap. She had found out about the store’s plans on Monday when she walked in, and said she would miss the childlike pleasure of shopping there.
Others mourned on social media. “I just read the first line and burst into tears,” Facebook user Caitlin Morgan wrote in response to Lee’s post announcing the closure. “This place has been a community touchstone. An emporium of wonder and delight for every child.”
Lee, who has owned the two-story building for 12 years, said a sale could fetch around $1.7 million, though that estimate could change. A broker tour took place Tuesday.
She’s hoping to keep the store open until July, when it officially turns 20. After that, she plans to take six months off to figure things out, including possibly writing a book and starting an African fabric business on Instagram.
“I have about 5,000 people on my email list,” she said.
But she’ll miss her customers.
“People love to share their stories with me, the joys, the tragedies and the mundane,” she said. “It’s intensely personal to have a store.”
“I tears. just This read place the first has line been and a community burst into touchstone. An emporium of wonder and delight for every child.” Caitlin Morgan, on Facebook