Like many people who make their passion their business, Jean Haller has conflicting reactions to the end of her run as owner of Journeys of Life in Shadyside: Has it only been 30 years? Has it really been that long?
The book and gift store that opened on Memorial Day in 1989 will be closing soon. Ms. Haller, who recently turned 70, doesn’t want to say exactly when. But everything must go — except for a few things she might keep.
The tarot cards, gemstones, jewelry, candles, inspiring messages on wall hangings, scarves, incense, essential oils, cards and books are priced to sell quickly.
Ms. Haller owns the building, so her decision wasn’t about losing a lease or rent hikes.
“It’s time,” she said. “It took me a little while to be OK with it. I went through the stages of grief. But the writing is on the wall about changing retail, and I wanted to go out on a high note.”
Her husband Henry wants to retire, she said. He has kept the store’s books and been a steady sidekick on road trips to workshops and conferences where Ms. Haller has been a vendor and presenter.
She has curated resources for guidance counselors, drug and alcohol counselors and social service agencies on addiction, trauma, bullying and abuse. She has considered her store a kind of ministry that evolved from her own life in recovery.
In the winding down days, customers have been filling a thick journal near the cash register with comments.
“I discovered this space in the fall of 1999 and ...my mind and heart and soul opened. Gabriela.”
“We will never find such a place again. Fran”
“You are my hero, Jean, love Michael.”
“Now I don’t know what I will do for Mary’s birthday. Good luck with the rest of your life. It has been a job well done. Ray”
Ms. Haller describes the 30-year run as life changing and life affirming.
A binder of invoices marked “PAID” or with O balance attests to relationships she built over years with wholesalers who came to her rescue when an electrical fire in 2011 burned the building and ruined all her inventory.
“It was two weeks before Thanksgiving. We rented emergency store space, I made some calls and the word went out and within five days I started receiving boxes from vendors with no invoices. Stores I’ve worked with for 25 years sent checks to pay my staff.”
Soon afterward, she and her staff raised $12,000 from sales to donate to nonprofits that had supported them.
Previously a medical hematologist, Ms. Haller raised her children while volunteering for nonprofits. In the mid-’80s, she went to a conference of adult children of alcoholics.
“I went looking for answers to my own life. I had just gotten sober, and I found there were books for people in recovery, struggling with it.”
One section in the store is devoted to books on 12-step recovery.
Jill Fine discovered that section in her own recovery and subsequently recommended it as a resource when she became a licensed drug and alcohol counselor.
“I was in about a month ago, after Jean announced her retirement,” Ms. Fine said, “and people would come in crying, saying the store has meant so much to them. It was notable how many people came in overwhelmed with gratitude for what that store has meant to them.”
Liz Greenfield of Squirrel Hill discovered the store when she was a student at the University of Pittsburgh 20 years ago and has been a regular since.
“I’m not into angels and things like that, but this has been a great place to find a gift,” she said one day while her purchases were being rung up. “I love the calming atmosphere. My daughter is 11, and when we needed a little pick-me-up of feeling good about yourself, we would find something here.
“There are a lot of gift shops, but this one has a special tone. We are definitely going to miss this beautiful, beautiful store.”
Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Twitter@dnelsonjones.
First Published: May 13, 2019, 9:55 a.m.