An employee of McBride's Hallmark shop handles one of the last customers before the shop's closing at 6pm on the day after Christmas. Rhonda Kelly is one of a half-dozen employees who will be looking for work soon, once the store's inventory is packed up and shipped out.
Store manager Christine Dudley said she didn't know how long the store has been here, but said the McBride's bought it about seven years ago. They own another half-dozen stores in the Puget Sound area. This is the only one of their stores closing, but Dudley said Hallmark is also closing several stores in Western Washington.
Dudley, who also manages the McBride's Oak Harbor Hallmark shop, said,"This store hasn't been busy." She added that closing this store is hard. I've got to know the employees as well as the customers. "You learn all about their lives," she said.