After 39 Years in Business, The 17 Steps is Closing
Decatur Metro | December 28, 2015 | 11:02 am
The 17 Steps gift shop in downtown Decatur made this short and sweet statement on its Facebook page a couple of days back…
A Message to Our Customers
THANK YOU DECATUR FOR 39 years!
The 17 Steps will be Closing its doors at the end of January 2016.
In response to its Facebook post, many fans of the store wrote in to say how much they will miss the store and appreciate all that it has done for the community.
The store’s founder, Brenda Cobb, passed away last July.
My best to the whole The 17 Steps family. You will be missed!
h/t: Decaturish
Sorry to hear, but I haven’t found anything in there in years. Hope something good takes its place.
You should write obituaries.
Please expand. What would you consider to be “something good” in that location? Retail is a mighty struggle in Decatur.
though in truth I haven’t the foggiest idea, I believe the only answer permitted on this blog is “Trader Joe’s”. 😉
That shop has always been a go-to for gifts and cards. They will be missed.
Totally irrelevant to this news, but I’m reading the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut”, and I couldn’t help but notice meaningless but still odd connections…Two of Hitchcock’s British movies were called “Number 17” and “The 39 Steps”.
BTW, why was that store named The 17 Steps?
A little before my time, but I believe it’s because the original location was on a lower floor that required one to go down 17 steps to get there. I would defer to who have been here longer than I.
17 Steps indeed began its life below what I believe was called the Trust Bank. I think that the entrance was located where Jeni’s Ice Cream is now and one walked down seventeen stairs to get to the shop. It has had a total of at least four locations in downtown Decatur over its nearly four decades.
I thought the entrance was around the corner where Blaze Sports is now.
No, the entrance was on the “Sycamore Street” side. Just past the glass door is a landing and then the steps to the left that lead to the basement where the store was located. The only way to the basement from the North McDonough Street side was using the old elevator, and that elevator has been known to make you linger longer in the elevator shaft than you might have intended. The building where Blaze had its offices actually has a mutual wall, but no direct connection to the Trust Building. Attorney Dan Dewoskin bought that building and is renovating it ahead of his moving into it.
Thanks, Tom. You have more, uh, longevity than I do.
17 Steps will be greatly missed! The shop added a touch of class and whimsy to Decatur for so many years. We will no longer have that special go to place for just the right gift to give our loved ones. Here’s hoping that someone will come along to fill the gap.
Oh! I will miss 17 Steps! And where will my husband buy birthday presents for me now?
Ditto here! Kids too! I HAD noticed that it had gotten a bit stale in the last couple of months but I’ll bet they were already planning to wind down. With Heliotrope also gone, the last minute gift options are diminishing. Luckily, there’s still Homegrown, Square Ft, Squash Blossom but they have fewer inexpensive options and are more oriented towards crafts (Homegrown) or clothing.