After 39 years and five locations, all in downtown Decatur, owner Julie Cobb is closing The Seventeen Steps for good Jan. 30.
Primarily, she said, business has declined in the past decade, particularly the last three years. She made her decision in July and told her employees in October.
The store was started by three Decatur women in 1976 and named for the 17 steps one took from sidewalk to basement floor where the shop was located. Cobb and her mother Brenda Cobb bought the place in 1981, eventually moving to its current location at Commerce Square 16 years ago.
For decades the store remained doggedly low-tech and consistent in its dedication to originality, ranging from soaps to children’s books, coffee-table books, stationary, jewelry, purses, clocks mugs, drink glasses and everything in between
Brenda Cobb died in July 2014, and Julie also lost her father, the store’s longtime bookkeeper, four months later.
“We’ve never gone into fashion or trends or anything high end,” Julie Cobb said. “Mother always wanted the classic stuff, the stuff with quality, and for us that’s been harder to find in recent years.”
About the Author
