LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After about two years on the market, the Caufield family says their location on Main Street is no longer for sale.
Tracy Caufield Johnson said a return to in-person shopping and encouragement from their customers lead them to make the decision.
They first put the building up for sale in 2019, after years of internet impact. "The internet has really hurt us," Caufield Johnson said. Their wholesale company shrank from supplying nearly 2,000 stores to supplying 20. The second and third floors of the building, which they used to store their wholesale item, seemed to be too much.
The customers wouldn't let it go without some begging. "Every day, someone would come in and say, 'please don't leave this building. We love this building. We've been coming to this building for so long,'" Caufield Johnson Said.
The space is something special for customers like Serena Lee. "It's just special to her," Serena's mother Elizabeth Lee said.
Serena has special needs and her mother said employees at Caufield's have always been helpful and accommodating. The place has become a part of the Lee's tradition for the past 20 Halloweens.
Ali Sentell and her young family drive in from Madison every year, creating a tradition of their own. She described the feeling she gets walking through the space, "you hear all these kids yelling and having a great time and I think the adults have just as much fun."
Some big names have shopped at the store too. The family says Muhammad Ali was a frequent shopper, buying magic tricks to share with friends and family. The Sopranos, Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Kimmel, they've all bought from Caufield's.
The list will keep growing. Caufield Johnson said, "We weathered the storm. So, I hope that we're here for another hundred years."
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