Mrs. Grossman's Ends Tours, Store

GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 4/28/2011 12:07:19 PM

Petaluma, CA - Sticker manufacturer Mrs. Grossman's Paper Company will close the store at its factory and end tours in mid-May, according to The Press Democrat.

The 31-year-old company will be leasing 50,000 square feet, about half its building space, to gourmet food and gift basket manufacturer Torn Ranch. The lease includes about 10,000 square feet now used for the sticker store. Close to a quarter million people have taken his company's tour in the last 15 years, according to company president Jason Grossman (founder Andrea Grossman, his mother, retired two years ago.)

The sticker tours will continue through May 12, though most are already booked. The store's goods will be 50 percent off beginning on May 2. The store will close May 14.

A decade ago Mrs. Grossman's employed 150 people. Today the company and related business Paragon Label have half that, and Paragon, which prints high-end labels for wineries and other businesses, eclipsed Mrs. Grossman's in revenues. Grossman started Paragon in 1998 because he foresaw a need to bring in new customers.

Grossman told Gifts & Decorative Accessories that they'd been trying to lease half of the building for about five years, and that, in addition to the 10,000 square feet the tour took up, "there were some insurance issues for our tour that we've been battling for years."

However, he added, "The company is fine, I'm not closing the company or anything. We're still doing well, we just had to make this one little change that's going to freak everyone out."