Published: October 22, 2009 10:05 pm      

Mount Vernon Gift Shop returning to roots

For a little over half a century, the Mount Vernon Gift Shop has served the needs of shoppers in Huntsville looking for a variety of merchandise ranging from high-end glassware, crystal and trendy gifts to a variety of unique home décor with an emphasis on all things bright and colorful.

After this year, however, owner Blythe Ernst plans to return the shop to its roots and merge with the family’s jewelry store, Ernst Jewelers, where the idea for Mount Vernon was first developed.

When the current location became available in 1953, the Ernst family decided to move their lucrative bridal registry located in the back of the jewelry store to it’s own location, which they called Mount Vernon Gift Shop.

According to Ernst, the store specialized in fine china, silver and crystal for brides-to-be before slowly expanding into the variety of goods that are now carried in the shop.

By merging the shop back into the jewelry store, Ernst said she hopes to refocus on these gift items that first brought Mount Vernon popularity and success.

“We’re kind of going back to how we started in the beginning,” Ernst said. “It will give us an opportunity to focus on our best selling items and maybe expand on some other lines. We’ll still be able to offer people who have a wedding gift or a housewarming gift to still be able to come in and get that. We’re just kind of phasing out the things that aren’t quite as unique to try to focus on the more unique items.”

The store will continue to carry some of their high-end glassware and crystal lines, including Waterford, as well as several other types of merchandise, such as Jon Hart luggage and purses.

Making the move was a difficult choice to consider, Ernst said, because of the many years she has spent pouring her own love and effort into the business that has been a part of the Ernst family for several generations.

She first began working at the shop in 1994 when she and her husband moved back to Huntsville and began buying both the shop and jewelry store from Lois Ernst, her mother-in-law.

In the 15 years that have passed since then, however, Ernst said the needs and wants of customers have changed, creating the need for a similar change in what merchandise businesses carry and how they attempt to sell it.

“It was a hard decision to make,” Ernst said. “It was hard for both of us to come to the decision that we needed to make a change. But times have changed. Our business used to be a bridal registry – we had big tables for brides to register – but people just don’t do that anymore. We’ve been thinking about it for the past couple of years. We just kind of decided it was time to make the move now.”

The store is currently offering a 20 percent discount on all merchandise through the rest of the month as Ernst said she hopes to attract the usually large Christmas crowds before closing the store early next year.

“We’re hopefully going to sell through and I’m hoping we’ll be able to do that by January,” she said.

While the move from independence to coexistence hasn’t been an easy pill to swallow for the shop’s owners, the change has likewise been difficult for customers who have been shopping at the store for generations.

Ernst said the news has had an emotional impact on long-time customers of Mount Vernon Gift Shop, reflecting her own nostalgic sentiments toward to store.

“We’ve had so many of our customers coming in with tears in their eyes saying, ‘You sold to my mother and my grandmother,’” Ernst said. “So it’s been very tough.”

Yet Ernst does retain high hopes for the future of the store, even if it means moving to another location and sharing space with the jewelry store that first gave it life.

With the move, she said the family also plans to implement changes in Ernst Jewelers, including a new look to help update the interior and accommodate the new merchandise from the shop.

“We’re going to remodel down at Ernst Jewelers – we’re going to completely remodel that store and add a whole section for giftware,” Ernst said. “It needs to be – it hasn’t been remodeled in a long time. So we’re looking forward to that. It will be a good thing.”

More than the family history and variety of merchandise filling the shelves, however, Ernst said she will miss interacting with the customers the most.

While she hopes many will continue to shop at the store even after the move to Ernst Jewelers, Ernst said working at Mount Vernon Gift Shop and getting to know its shoppers is something she will always remember fondly.

“We have appreciated all of our loyal customers – that’s what I’m going to miss the most, visiting with everyone that comes in,” Ernst said. “It’s just a chapter of our life that is closing for now, but we’ve appreciated being here and being able to be in business for so long. We’re grateful for that.”