Oddities Novelties & More has announced its impending closure after 28 and a half years in and around downtown El Dorado.
Founded by LeeAnn Herndon in 1995, Oddities was originally located on South West Avenue, but it wasn't long before the novelty shop outgrew its original storefront.
"She actually started out in a little room the size of most people's bedrooms," said Oddities employee Sandy Blakeney on Friday. "Every month, she would save her money and she would knock down a wall. It just grew and grew, and she finally got to where she couldn't knock down any more walls over there."
In 1998, Herndon purchased the property Oddities is at now on South Washington Avenue, and the following year, the shop moved in.
The novelty shop, over the years, has offered everything from incense and Ouija boards to adult toys and gag gifts. In 2005, the News-Times reported a story about the piercings offered at Oddities, then a growing part of the business as body piercings became more socially accepted.
"LeeAnn kept a lot of hippie stuff, a lot of retro stuff, your crystals, your sages, your Tarot cards. I mean, it was just a little bit of everything," Blakeney said. "It was the kind of store where you came in here and went shopping and you found something you didn't know you needed."
When Herndon passed away in 2013, the business was inherited by her daughter, Lacy. Herndon's mother, Julie Waschka, took over running the store Blakeney said.
"It was just a little dream LeeAnn had. She started on about $5,000 and she grew it into a very successful business," Blakeney said. "That's what anybody should take from it, is really that she had everybody in town tell her she couldn't do it, and she had a lot of people talk really bad about her because she did do it, but she did it. And it's still here, so we're proud of that."
Waschka passed away on Oct. 12, and Blakeney said Herndon's family decided then that it was time to close Oddities' doors.
Blakeney, who became emotional recalling the legacy Herndon created through Oddities, encouraged those who are disappointed by the shop's closure to support local, small businesses like it.
"The people that are disappointed to see it go should get off Amazon and shop all their local stores and restaurants. I mean, you've got cute gift shops right here in town, clothing stores right here in town," she said. "These are the people that donate to your baseball teams, your Little League teams, all your kids' school activities, your local charities – it's your local businesses doing that, so you should be supporting your local businesses, because they're the ones that are supporting your community."
Blakeney said Oddities will remain open until stock sells out.