In the Woods says goodby to so many friends

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To the Editor:

Twenty-seven years is a long time — time enough to have made some good friends with our neighbors and so many of our loyal customers and employees. Twenty-seven years is time enough to watch babies grow up to have babies of their own and tell us, “I’ve been coming here all my life.” We will miss having our store on Main Street in Edgartown. We will miss hearing our customers tell their friends, “Come in here, I have to show you this place — it’s so cool.” (Sometimes, I thought if we charged admission, we would have an easier time paying the rent.)

We will miss the children, with eyes wide open, playing with the wooden puzzle toys, pushing the trucks, trains, and planes around on the floor. We will even miss the “pop, pop, pop” of those wooden pop guns played by thousands of excited children over the years, too young to read the sign: “One pop per person, please”; and even the sharp whistle of the flutes played by the children pretending to be the Pied Piper.

For 27 years, parents have been taking their annual pictures of their children on “Woody,” our life size rocking horse (and then sneaking a ride for themselves too.)

But most of all, we will miss the children. I’ll never forget the little boy who, this summer, when he heard that we were closing, came behind the counter, threw his arms around my waist, and said, “No, it can’t be true. Please don’t go,” and his sister who stood there in what appeared to be shock and said, “There must be something we can do.” A bake sale, perhaps?

On December 31, In the Woods will be closing its door for the last time. It’s true, there were a lot of false starts, but this time it’s for real. Our lease is up. So, before we go, we would like to thank everyone who loved our store. We loved it too, and if it were not for you, we would not have been able to last for 27 years. You are the best. And we will miss you.

Kathy Cerick

In the Woods

Edgartown