(L-R:) Amy Baum Spund, Steve Spund, Phyllis Baum, Steven Baum, Fran Baum

Amy and Steven are Phyllis’ children
Amy and Steve are married
Fran and Steven are married

Greetings & Readings announced this morning that after 49 years serving the Baltimore community, it will be closing their doors in January 2019.

Founded in 1969 in Towson’s Loch Raven Plaza, the near half-century old retailer has endured changing consumer habits and product trends. Steady declines in customer traffic and sales have made the business no longer sustainable - forcing the doors to close this January.

The revitalized Hunt Valley Towne Centre provided a business reboot with a spacious 30,000 square foot location. In August 2005, Greetings & Readings opened - making it the largest independent book and giftstore in Baltimore. After 35 years in Towson, upsizing from the original 1,800 square foot store, the new location afforded opportunities that included a Hallmark Gold Crown card department, a wifi-enabled reading lounge, a cafe, candy, apparel, personalized stationery, as well as gifts and fashion. Popular brands include Brighton, Vera Bradley, Swarovski, Spartina, Alex and Ani, Tommy Bahama, Simply Southern, Life is Good, plus a complete local sports apparel and souvenir department.

The Greetings & Readings story is centered around family. Steven Baum and his wife Fran, with Steve Spund and his wife Amy Baum Spund have been working together since the Loch Raven store. Phyllis Baum, now 85, credited with the store’s naming, continues to work four days a week, side by side with her family.

The decision to close the business was exceptionally hard and not without much thought and prayer. “We realize that we’re impacting the lives of our 80 employees, the community and our own families” states Steven Baum, president of the store. “We began to see sales decline by up to 3% starting with the recession of 2008 but we were always able to change product lines to compensate. This year sales are off 15%. The cost to cut this space down, in this retail environment, would never be recouped. We have worked with brokers to secure a possible buyer or a merger, but that did not yield any interest. Our family has continued to put personal money into the business - but there comes a point where you’ve explored every avenue and you need to make the hard, but inevitable, decision to close the doors,” continues Baum.

“With over 80 employees now - from a high of 225 - minimum wage and health care cost increases are a substantial expense for small businesses. We don't have the luxury of raising our prices to cover these costs. We have tried to be competitive with online prices, but we have retail store expenses - not warehouse expenses. We employ people to help our customers. We don't have the ability to replace people with automation in order to reduce expenses. Sadly, a full-service store is just not sustainable anymore” explains Baum.

The National Retail Federation reports this holiday season consumers expect to spend $693 on average, according to NPD’s Holiday Retail outlook. More than three quarters of consumers plan to shop online - an all time high for online shopping. U.S. shoppers will spend $119.99 billion with online retailers during this holiday shopping season, Internet Retailer’s analysis shows. That’s a 15.5% increase compared with the Internet Retailer- estimated $103.88 billion spent online during the same period in 2017.

Partner and vice-president Steve Spund has witnessed the changing retail environment first-hand as he spends most of his day working the floor with customers and employees. “Holidays used to have a long selling season, but now it comes down to the last few days preceding each holiday,” explains Spund. “Nights used to be a significant part of our daily sales. When two parents work - night time is family time, not for shopping. It’s no surprise that internet shopping has eroded sales for businesses like ours - how can we fight Amazon with buying at home plus free two-day delivery?”

Spund continues “This year we have exceeded the all-time record for precipitation. When the rain comes traffic disappears. Snow flurries make the shopping centers desolate except for the food stores. In past years, you could make up some of the drop off, but now when the weather is bad people just shop online.”

Baum explained another big trend in the industry that has impacted small retail businesses is manufacturers selling directly to consumers, or through Amazon. All manufacturers have their own direct to consumer websites - providing free shipping, discounts to customers, yielding them a higher margin than selling to us. “We have also seen them opening company stores to compete with the independents, only to start closing them now, as they realize the expenses of retail doesn’t even justify their higher margins selling direct to consumer.”

“There is little comfort in seeing fellow independent retail stores forced to close their doors”, said Spund. “We’re beginning to see larger national chainstores, unable to cover their costs and impacted by shifts in consumer buying habits, having to close their doors. I have to say it’s been a pleasure to be part of the Hunt Valley Towne Centre since it opened in 2005 - we’ve really appreciated working with Greenberg Gibbons, landlords that really care about their merchants and the community. As difficult as times have been, what always brings a smile to my face is the positive, daily comments from our wonderful customers on how much they love G&R - that’s what makes this decision so hard for our family” explains Spund.

Greetings & Readings matriarch, Phyllis Baum commented “I could not be more proud of my children, Steven, Fran, Amy and Steve, for all they have accomplished over the years. We have been fortunate to serve hundred of thousands of wonderful customers with important events in their lives - weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, births - their hobbies and passions. We will celebrate all that we have accomplished in 49 years and take pride that we have been an integral part of the Baltimore community. We will miss the thousands of friends, the hundreds of employees that have made this dream possible. I believe, in my heart, that we too, will be missed by our customers.”

The store will be open regular hours during The Grand Finale Sale and will close on Sunday, January 20, 2019. Closing sale starts immediately with 50% off holiday merchandise, 30% off all merchandise and 25% off books and magazines.