Struggling Economy Forces Lucy-Desi Center To Close Gift Shop
By Kristen Johnson, kajohnson@post-journal.comArticle Photos
Necessity and a sour economy have forced the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center to close its gift shop.
Last month, all of the inventory from the gift shop, which is located at 300 N. Main St., was moved to the Lucy-Desi Museum and Gift Shop and the Desilu Playhouse, both of which are located on West Third Street.
''Essentially, everything that was in the gift shop was already in the playhouse and the museum, so we felt (the gift shop) was redundant,'' said Mike LaTone, president of the center's Board of Directors. ''We decided to consolidate. It just doesn't make sense to operate out of three locations for a lot of reasons.''
LaTone said eventually, the center plans to sell the gift shop building. During a board of directors meeting set for today, LaTone said board members would decide whether they want to list the building and determine its selling price.
One way or the other, LaTone said the center ''really can't afford to keep'' the gift shop building - primarily because operating out of three buildings ''doesn't make a lot of sense.'' And it makes even less sense, LaTone said, to take customers through the playhouse and museum only to send them across a busy thoroughfare in order to purchase collectibles and other items.
Even so, LaTone said he is reluctant to sell the building.
''Nobody wants to give up property - especially in a downtown area - but the fact is that we've got to change,'' he said. ''It just doesn't make sense to keep doing things the way we've been doing them. I would honestly rather rent the building. A tenant paying $1,200 to $1,500 a month would really help our cash flow.''
LaTone said he has already shown the gift shop building to ''a couple'' of prospective buyers, but he hasn't had any bites just yet.
Two part-time employees have been brought back, LaTone said, and are working at the museum and playhouse. There's also a person staffing the center's mail-order operation, which is currently housed in the gift shop building. After the Lucy-Desi Days festival later this month, LaTone said the mail-order operation would be moved to the playhouse.
''It's a decision made out of necessity and made because the economy isn't really great right now,'' he said. ''To be honest with you, I don't see this as a bad thing at all. It's just another decision - a hard one - that we had to make in order to keep the center that we all love up and running. That's all.''
Closing and selling the gift shop is just the latest in a string of decisions the center's Board of Directors has had to make in recent months as it tries to deal with a financial situation LaTone has called ''fragile'' and move in new directions. Several employees have been laid off and hours at the gift shop, museum and playhouse were recently reduced as part of the board's efforts to trim expenses to keep the center open. In addition, the terms of three former board members - Bill Daly, Caroline Seymour and Chuck Ludwig - recently expired and the center is working on filling those seats.
Center officials are also waiting to announce the hire of a new executive director, an announcement that LaTone has said is ''just waiting for the right time.''
''I think there's a lot of good stuff going on,'' he said. ''In spite of some of the decisions we've had to make, I still think we're doing the right things. Change is hard, sometimes, but our ultimate goal is protecting the center and making it stable and profitable for years to come.''
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YeddaQueen
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05-20-09 5:32 PM
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For the love of God man... It's LUCIE ARNAZ not Luci Arnez and not Lucy Arnes. Eekkksss
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curiousgeorge1830
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05-18-09 5:09 PM
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I have to wonder whats going to happen to all the artifacts in the archive room, a room that had to be redone for the purpose of storing these great treasures? Its a shame what has become of a great place, now run by callous people, you know who you are. This all makes me sick.
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extravisionist
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05-18-09 12:36 AM
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Come on, Lucy-Desi board of directors! Tell the truth. How much longer are you going to keep up perpetuating the lie that the economy is to blame? The Lucy-Desi Center was sunk well before the economy bottomed out. If Deppas and the board don't come clean soon, it will be done for them!
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extravisionist
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05-18-09 12:31 AM
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It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see which of the posts are written by Wyman's friends.
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NYNana
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05-14-09 1:51 PM
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It doesn't surprise me that this is happening, since Luci Arnez has demanded the center pay her $25,000 a year to sell this stuff and promote the gift shop, museum and play house. Without that yearly stipend she threatened to move it all to Texas. Too bad they don't reinstate Rick Wyman, he is what kept all of this going and growing for years and years. His love of Lucy knows no bounds and he got the shaft because of 1 or 2 people. I will be very surprised if the museum and play house remain open for the Lucy FEST and her bday celebration in August, past 2010. So sad it has come to this.
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Maxfury
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05-14-09 1:26 PM
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The sad thing in reading these comments is that the are more about personal attacks on each other rather than about the article. While there is some truth in the fact Lucy did not come back to Jamestown it doesnt't make Jamestown a bad place. There are many fine qualities. If you truly believe Jamestown is so bad then I would look for somewhere else to live. I am proud to live in Jamestown and have many friends who come to visit that have found going to the Lucy museum and her grave an interesting part of Jamestown.
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bodyhammer
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05-14-09 12:04 PM
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IN ALL RESPECT TO HAMMMONDAY,HE IS RIGHT IN SOME THINGS ABOUT LUCY I'M NOT A HATER OF LUCY BUT,WHY WHEN SHE WAS ALIVE THE TOWN NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNEW THIS IS WHERE SHE CAME FROM??BUT KNOW THAT SHE IS GONE THEY ARE FIGTHING LIKE WOLFS OVER A DEAD DEER TO TRY AND MAKE A GO OVER THE MUSEUM,IS IT FOR LUCY OR IS IT FOR THE MONEY.???ASE FAR AS THE SALE OF THE GIFT SHOP BUILDING WHO ELSE WOULD TRY AND GET TOP DOLLAR BUT MIKE,HE PROBABLE OWNS MANY APARTMENTS-SMALL MALLS-AND A BUSINESS IN TOWN,SO WHY NOT HOLD ON TO IT FOR THE LONG DOLLAR.AND IF IT DON'T SELL SOME LANDLORD WILL PICK IT UP FOR A SONG...
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sunnyday
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05-14-09 9:34 AM
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People like me? PEOPLE LIKE ME????? You have NO idea what "people like me" are like, or what we would do. What I DO know is that Jamestown (or jimmytown as you call it) is better off withOUT people like YOU. And as I said before - bye bye
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sunnyday
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05-14-09 9:06 AM
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OK Hamm - (and I use that term specifically)- if you could get 12 stores in Jamestown for under $300 a month - then why don't you. You could give people jobs & make yourself useful for a change. Bye bye
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sunnyday
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05-14-09 8:56 AM
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OK Hamm - (and I use that term specifically)- if you could get 12 stores in Jamestown for under $300 a month - then why don't you. You could give people jobs & make yourself useful for a change. Bye bye
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Ashvilleresident
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05-14-09 8:32 AM
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hammonetc, you have validated my post.
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Ashvilleresident
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05-14-09 8:22 AM
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hammonetc, you are ignorant not in a specific way but in general. By the way you display yourself here on these posts, to the way you mangle grammar, your tenor and your general negative, low class demeanor. I bet you are negative and sour because you've never created anything in your life. I bet you are the kind of person who blames everyone else for your personal situation. Further, I bet you are the kind of person who thinks they have the solution to all problems but probably don't even have, or can get, a job. Please get another hobby and spare us from your banal ranting, it's boring already.
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sunnyday
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05-14-09 7:58 AM
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It is too bad about the closing of the gift shop. But, my comment DID prove one thing - hammonddanyway just had negative things to say. Too bad he's (she's) so ignorant, he/she could be channeling the energy in a different direction & putting all his/her ideas to work & maybe help Jamestown??
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Ashvilleresident
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05-14-09 7:52 AM
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Sir or Madam, please stop shouting and try, just try to temper your disply of ignorance here. Yeesh....
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holly10berry
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05-14-09 7:26 AM
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Without a doubt! I'm sure he hates everything about Lucy!
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sunnyday
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05-14-09 7:14 AM
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I'm sure hammondanyday will have yet another negative comment about this one!!
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