Charlotte Scherer, left, and Ambra Talarico prepare to load a painting from Art Forms into a car.

It was late on a chilly, gray, drizzly Sunday afternoon, a quiet time on the eve of New Year’s Eve.

But three Monmouth Street stores were buzzing, as their owners sought to get a jump on big changes for 2008.

Charlotte Scherer was moving out, shutting down her Art Forms gallery after 24 years in town. redbankgreen scoop: Another gallery is taking over the space. The Asher Nieman Gallery, owned by Scherer’s soon-to-be stepaughter, Emily Asher Nieman, is slated to open Feb. 1, Scherer tells us.

Red Bank News owner Michael Bonney puts down new subflooring in his shop.

A few doors over, Mike Bonney was alone inside Red Bank News, putting down new flooring as part of a sprucing up of the shop. It’ll be closed for a few days to perhaps a week, he says.

Helen Davis and her children Christine and Billy Kaminski unswaddle reptiles on their arrival at the new Fins and Feathers store.

And a couple of blocks west, Helen Davis and a small crew of family and friends were relocating the Fins and Feathers pet store from the corner of Maple Avenue to the former home of Victory Market.

“Oh, they’re so cold, the poor things,” Davis said as she removed the layers of towels that had been thrown over an aquarium housing a couple of finger-length geckos.

Davis hopes to wrap up the move tomorrow.

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