Business & Tech

Is San Marino Stationers Closing?

The local business that has been in San Marino since the 1950s could close up shop soon, manager Jo Lynn Bolton told Patch.

If you have seen the signs at advertising that everything in the store is 50 percent off, you may be wondering if the long-time local store is closing, but you wouldn’t be the only one. 

Current manager Jo Lynn Bolton told Patch that even she is not sure of the store’s fate at the moment.

Bolton, who formerly worked as manager and buyer of San Marino Stationers in the 1980s, took over management of the store a few months ago from her daughters Janelle and , who have co-owned the store for three years but have moved on to other things. Most recently, Katie moved to Washington state to pursue a sales career.

With the store’s lease up at the end of March, Jo Lynn is faced with a decision to buy the business. While she loves managing San Marino Stationers, she says it is a big job for one person to take on ownership and management.

“Our hearts are here; we’ve loved being here and we’ve loved serving them,” Bolton said of the San Marino Stationers customers she is so fond of, describing her friendly conversations with them as mutual therapy.

Current options for San Marino Stationers include keeping it open the way it is, perhaps coupling it with another type of business or closing the shop.

“People like the store the way it is; they like the institution,” said Bolton of the local feedback she has received recently. “Customers have been so supportive, so wonderful and so reluctant to say goodbye.”

San Marino Stationers History

If San Marino Stationers officially closes, it will be the end of a business that began in San Marino in 1954. It has been in three separate locations over the years but has remained in its current San Marino Courtyard spot for at least 30 years, said Bolton.

The Sari family started San Marino Stationers and it stayed in their family for several years. The Bolton family, which has San Marino roots going back three generations, is good friends with the relatives of the original owners to this day, Bolton told Patch.

What is Staying Open

Regardless of what incarnation the San Marino Stationers space takes, Bolton said her custom-made card designs will be available online. Her creations include an inspired by the book Cliff Falls by , who was .

Check back on Patch for the latest on the fate of San Marino Stationers.

What do you think of the possibility that long-time local business San Marino Stationers could close? What do you think should be done with the space? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.


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