Noble Designs will shut doors at month’s end
One of the longest standing businesses on the Healdsburg plaza is closing its doors this month after 25 years.
Noble Designs owners Joanna Noble and Winslow Callahan have put most of their merchandise on sale until Jan. 28 when they will leave the Healdsburg business community and move to a small co-op space in Cloverdale.
“We started here in 1988 on Halloween, we first started when there were two stores down here where the tasting room is, there used to be a yarn shop and then me, and we lived there until 2001 when we moved here, so we went from 300 square feet to 1,200 square feet,” Noble said from her Center Street shop.
Noble said that over the years as she expanded and the business grew, so did the little town she started in.
“It was so different, it was a farming community, there was a butcher shop on the corner of the street, everyone knew one another, everyone would say hello to one another, all the businesses were owned and worked by the owners,” Noble said.
“It was great,” her husband Winslow Callahan added.
The store carried a jewelry line created by Noble along with handcrafted gifts from local artists. The Noble Design jewelry line will continue to be carried in Cloverdale at the co-op “Antiques and Uniques” and her most popular selling Healdsburg Hoops and Skinny Hoops will be available at Mr. Moon’s.
“The main reason we are closing is that my husband went through two major surgeries last year, very severe surgeries and we almost lost him, so we both decided that it was time for us to slow down,” Noble said.
“But I am doing really good now,” Callahan said with a smile.
The couple plans to spend time traveling around in their RV, visiting beaches and seeing places that they have talked about going to.
“It is time to slow down, we have been here for 25 years and it is long enough,” Callahan added.
The couple attributes the success of the longstanding business to always keeping their prices affordable and offering a wide range of products that appeal to locals and visitors and shoppers of all ages.
“Number one has been customer service and our employees have been fabulous, we will miss our employees, we will miss the people, the people for sure, we are going on three generations of families and we will miss the beautiful downtown,” Noble said.
As the store closes, Noble can look back on her time in Healdsburg and see where she left her mark as a member of the Downtown Business Association she said she started the Halloween Trick-or-Treat Downtown. Last year they estimated 1,000 children turned out for the event.
Noble Designs last day open will be Jan. 28 with offers of up to 50 percent off on selected merchandise including display cases. For more information visit, www.nobledesigns.net.
