Marking the end of an era, Fantastic Signs owner John Oakley and his 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte, removed the cursive sign atop Laird’s Stationery in Fair Haven Tuesday afternoon.
As previously reported, the store, which traces its lineage back more than half a century, will close by the end of September, after a new landlord declined to renew the lease.
Owners Bob and Rose Budnick are now in the process of moving inventory from their 3,600-square-foot business into the Candle Haven shop they also own just two doors away, which is half the size. But the candle store lease is good for only another six months, after which the Budnicks said they expect to be out of business.
They donated the sign to Oakley, who plans to restore the sign in his Red Bank shop, which is home to many vestiges of the area’s commercial past. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
