Beloved Farmington Gift Shop Owners Selling Store

FARMINGTON, CT — For five decades, Bill and Joan Handler of Design Forum Gallery have called Farmington home, serving a wide variety of customers celebrating their family milestones.

For generations, the quirky, artistic shop at 902 Farmington Ave. was where you bought your parent's anniversary present, gifts for your wedding party and that card and jewelry for grandma's milestone birthday.

Sadly for the community, but happily for the Handlers, the duo behind this local retail institution has announced this week they're retiring and they're looking for a buyer.

"It's just our time to think about the future," Bill Handler, 78, said Wednesday morning.

Handler said he and his wife have plans to retire and move to Arizona to be closer to their family, a pull that often lures family matriarchs and patriarchs to a new life.

And that's the case for the Handlers, who thought 50 years of operation was as good a time as any to retire, Bill Handler said.

"There's only so long a person can physically run a store," he said.

Handler said this week, e-mail notifications have already been sent out to longtime customers about the store and the responses have been positive.

"Since we sent out the notice, we've gotten so many heartwarming responses," Bill Handler said.

For now, no formal timetable has been set up regarding the store, but the goal is to have the operation sold and operating under new owners by the summer.

Otherwise, Handler said, the store may be closed down.

He said he's hopeful someone local might be able to purchase and run the store, which he said is doing well for the most part.

"We are doing business as usual," he said. "It's a viable store, with a nice following."

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