Kelly Cook, owner of Velvet Plum Vintage & Consignments in downtown Noblesville, realized during the Peony Festival she would need to permanently close her store. All businesses on the square, except for the Velvet Plum, decorated their stores with balloon awnings. When asked why she didn’t have one, Cook told a neighboring business she couldn’t afford the cost while sales were down 78%. The next morning, she arrived to work to find balloons.
“I walked to my store, and I closed the door and I stood there and I cried because I love that store,” Cook said. “That store was my heart. And I couldn’t even afford a $100 balloon display, but those people cared enough about me that they bought me one. As grateful as I was to them, I was so sad because I knew then where my business was headed.”
On July 15, Cook will close her store at 894 Logan Street — the “best corner on the square,” she said — after six years. Her location nearby on Conner Street will remain open. The decision was a surprise even to her. In March, she hired staff and had no plans to close. When construction began on Logan Street as part of the “Embrace Downtown” construction project, she thought she would weather it…