The Lagniappe, Eclectic Valley Junction Gift Shop With Unusual Name, to Close

, the eclectic Valley Junction gift shop with an unusual name – a Creole word for a small gift merchants give customers – is closing in August after 23 years.

Jim Miller, director, told the Des Moines Register that the ebb and flow of shops in and out of the historic shopping district is normal, but “this one hurts.”

The Lagniappe’s wine and coffee bar, added to the shop in 2007 has been “a great attraction for the area,” Miller said.

Caren Strum opened the store at 112 Fifth St. in 1989 with an inventory that included which featured one-of-a-kind gifts, jewelry, clothing and accessories by regional artists. Miller said she was ahead of the trend in turning Valley Junction into an arts district.

Both the building and business have been for sale since Strum died in 2009. The property has been sold and an inventory liquidation sale begins this week, longtime store manager Janice Holmes said.

Holmes told the Register The Lagniappe’s closing is “the end of an era.”

“There is definitely going to be a void in Valley Junction,” she said. “This store has been a fixture here for a long time. It was the place where people could shop and have a glass of wine.”

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays; and fom noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Holmes thinks the store will officially close in mid-August.

There’s no word on what business will go into prime 5th Street location, according to the Register.