Shopkeeper decides to make a new start

I have been in this county since 1979, but I don't recall ever writing a letter to the editor. I had a four-year stint in Carson City during this period because of my husband's tenure with the Brewery Arts Center. I have worked in the retail industry here for 13 years now.

I know quite a few people in Carson Valley, since I have been here 30 years. I've seen people, and jobs come and go, the building industry, go up and go down in kind of a natural way. People who've lived in Minden and Gardnerville for a while know what to expect from the natural ebb and flow of things.

The past few years we have had an influx of people from other states. They move into this area, and they want to change it. I have many friends and relatives in the building industry, and I have watched as they have tried to hold onto their houses, and the things they worked very hard for, for many years. I am so sad I can't tell you when I see families whose children were raised here and now the children are going to have to leave to find work in different states.

I have seen a business I opened four years ago sink farther and farther down the tubes with the loss of the building industry in this valley. The builders' wives shop. They get their hair done, their nails done, they get massages and facials. We shop at the local grocery stores and try to support everything we can locally in our county to keep it going.

Just look around, there is an empty office on every corner of this county, and they are building more office space as we speak. Are they using our local builders?

I have a retail children's store here and I will be moving at the end of October to Carson City because the incentives are too good to pass up.

I don't want to move but I can't invest any more in a business that my local people don't support on a regular basis. Let me tell you that you can't run a business on two sales a day. I know other people in business in this valley that are thinking of closing because we just can't make it.

I can't tell you how many people love our stores, and give compliment after compliment. But they don't come back on a regular basis. When it is Christmas or when you are having a great sale they are there. Christmas for a lot of us was down last year almost 50 percent.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank all of my regular customers who have supported me in the last four years. You know who you are and that I love you and your children very much.

There are children that I have seen a week after they were born and these precious babies are 4 now. I can't tell you what a blessing it is to watch your children grow and be a small part of their lives. I wish I could see them go to high school.

Remember also, it is your local businesses that support your local charities. Baby Willows has supported many of our local groups. Senior citizens, 20/30 Club, Family Support Council, FEAT, and many more in the four years we have been here. Please don't forget our local community and help, when you can.

I will miss all the friends I have made here, and hope you will find me in Carson City and bring the kids to see me.

I started as a singer with the General Store Band in this community working at Sharkeys 21 days straight in an Indian summer October. I loved Sharkey and he did so much for me in my younger years, gave me work when I wasn't on the road singing. I will always miss him and have very fond memories of him.

I knew I wanted to raise my kids here and I raised three of them. There couldn't have been a better place on earth to do it in. I owe a lot to this community and hope I have done my part to help my community also. I would like to thank Becky Soderman and Katie Malone for their support and friendship when I first opened my store. To Minden, Gardnerville, I love you.

Judy Procaccini is owner of Baby Willows Petit Boutique in downtown Gardnerville.