'Mainly Seconds' Pottery Shop in Valley Village Closing After 36 Years

Business was booming at Mainly Seconds Pottery, Plants and Things in Valley Village over the weekend, but for all the wrong reasons.

After 36 years at the same location, owner Jim Herzoff decided to close up shop and mark down all items at the store by 70 percent. This caused something of a feeding frenzy with customers, and it was difficult to get a parking space within a block of the store on Sunday afternoon.

By Monday afternoon, the pickings were starting to get slim and all the plants were gone. Thursday is the last day the store is set to be open, but Herzoff said he isn't sure anything will be left by then.

"For the first time in 36 years, there are no plants inside this building," said Herzoff. "We're closing because the economy has not been nice to a lot of independent owners, and I'm one of them. And even though we have been here for a very long time, times have changed. Now there's the Costcos, the Lowes. Stores like that were not here -- Home Depots, etc., etc. -- when we started."

Even though the Home Depots will remain, many customers said they came to Mainly Seconds for the unique items they couldn't find anywhere else.

"I live just down the street," said Pam Gilles. "I've been coming here for 15 years, just because it's so unique, for gifts for myself, for gardening, for whatever. It's a nice place to come and hang. It's really sad."

Many of Herzoff's employees have worked for him for years. One has been there for 16 years, two others for 17 years, and his general manager has been there for 30 years.

"The owner, he's a really good guy, and he's always treated me well, and I'm a big believer in loyalty," said Ingrid Ward when asked for the No. 1 reason she has been working at the store for 17 years.

Patch caught up with Herzoff on Monday as he looked back on a life's work. But it won't just be Mainly Seconds he is saying goodbye to over the next few weeks, because he said he is also retiring to Florida.

If he is sad or bitter about the whole ordeal, it was hard to tell, as he was friendly, warm, smiling, joking and jolly on Monday as customers dug through what was left of his merchandise in a store that hasn't been empty of living plants since Gerald Ford was president.

"I figure I can either laugh or cry about it. So I'm laughing," said Herzoff.

Herzoff said he grew up just a few blocks from the store and attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Middle School and North Hollywood High School.

"When I was two years old, I moved into a house about three or four blocks from here," Herzoff recalled. "And this store was called the Village Market at the time. Different people owned different parts of the market, and the produce market was owned by a gentleman by the name of Bernie Gelson. And Bernie, from here, opened up his first store called Gelsons on the corner of Victory and Hollywood Way. And that was 55 years ago maybe. But this is where he started."

Gelson's now has 18 locations around Southern California.

When asked where his passion for pottery and gardening came from, Herzoff was quick to correct.

"It wasn't passion," he injected, explaining it had much more to do with his father and a simple business opportunity that opened up. 

Back in the early 70s, Herzoff said he was "hanging out" in the Berkley area with his brother "and probably doing things I shouldn't have been doing." Looking to find a path and some guidance for his son, Herzoff's father called him up and said he had come across an acquaintance that had a warehouse full of pottery who was looking for a business partner.

Herzoff took the opportunity and before long, with an investment from his father for a 20 percent share, he opened up Mainly Seconds at 12144 Magnolia Blvd., back before Valley Village existed and the neighborhood was still part of North Hollywood.

"And you know, until he passed away two years ago from Alzheimer's, I was able to put a check in my father's bank account every year," Herzoff said. "He ended up giving it back to the store in the form of gifts, which was fine."

The business grew and grew through the years, and at one point Herzoff said he had seven Mainly Seconds stores around Southern California. He'd forgotten about a few other stores he owned with partners, but digging through the remains of his office on Monday, he found an old business card that must have fallen in a crack ages ago.

"Oh, right, I also owned part of these stores, too. So I guess it was 10 stores total. I forgot all about those stores. Wow," said an astonished Herzoff.

But now, with the Valley Village store closing Thursday and his store in Orange County starting a going-out-of-business sale on Saturday, only one Mainly Seconds will remain, in Laguna Hills.

Herzoff said he has sold the building and believes that a new business will be coming, but he is unsure what it will be. Some upgraded equipment for the electrical system in the building had already arrived.

"Ever since 9/11, we just started going downhill, percentage wise, every year," Herzogff said. "It was down 10 or 15 percent every year and it got to the point a few years ago where I was losing a lot of money. And then I bought the building about three years ago. Of course, right before the crash."

But before you feel too terrible for Herzoff, he would want you to know that he will be OK. The stores did very well through the years, he said, and he owns homes in Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Oxnard, all three of which he said he is selling before moving to Florida. He also drives a shiny Porsche.

"See, it hasn't all been so bad," he said with a smile, pointing to the car.