BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - When Bev Hetzel walked into the George W. Hill Co. seed store Friday afternoon, the memories began piling up like the bon bons a clerk was scooping onto a candy scale.
"My husband's grandmother, Hallie Imwall, worked here," Ms. Hetzel said. "And we came here every year for Christmas candy. You can find stuff here you just can't anywhere else. That's what's so great about it."
By the end of this month, the 135-year-old store will be no more. Its faraway parent company, Agri Bio Tech of Henderson, Nev., is not in the retail business.
So the company will keep the Hills Florence warehouse and distribution center open, but the Pike Street store will likely be closed by the end of the month.
"It's terrible. It's heart-breaking," said Colleen Swanson, 33, of Covington, who has worked at the store for 15 years.
"The 10 people who work here are like a family. And the customers love us, and we love them. I bet I know 90 percent of the people who come in here," she said. "I'll have to go out and find another job, but it sure won't be the same working someplace else."
It won't be the same shopping someplace else, either, said Pat Watson, 41, of Fort Thomas, who, like Mrs. Hetzel, was waiting in line to buy Christmas candy Friday afternoon.
"My mother always used to buy this great Christmas candy here when we were growing up," Ms. Watson said. "Well, I'm buying her some chocolate bon bons today.
"I can buy candy someplace else, I guess, when the store closes. But it won't be the same. There's not anyplace like this anywhere around here."
George Hill founded the store in 1863. The Hill family sold the company several months ago to Agri Bio Tech.
For years it was a general store that sold groceries and just about everything else. In the '50s the store switched to mainly garden supplies, pet goods and seeds, but candied fruit and candy has always been a staple during the holidays, said manager Sandy Duncan, a 24-year employee.
"We've always had great customer service here, and the employees always cared about the customers," Mrs. Duncan said, her eyes turning slightly red and moist as she talked about the closing. "It's hard. People keep coming and saying goodbye. It's like losing a lot of old friends or family," she said.
A quick walk through the store's two rooms, across its old wood floors, and it is easy to see that the store's days are numbered. Some of the shelves are already empty. Signs that read "Everything as Is" and "Sorry, no checks" are taped up near the cash register. Park Hills resident Lois Stephens remembers a small fish pond that was in a corner of the store near a window. It's no longer there.
"My father owned a grocery store in Covington, but we always came in Hills for candy and other things because he wanted us to shop at places run by independent owners, not the chain stores," she said, looking at an empty corner. "I can't believe it's closing. I just can't believe it."
