Michigan’s only Cokesbury retail store will close its doors for the final time on Jan. 11, 2011, but the state will not be devoid of the rich memories its helped create over the last 70-some years.
Store manager Joan Mueller, who has been at the helm of the business at its several Plymouth locations, has a firm grasp on what Cokesbury has meant to people over the years.
“I just had two ladies in (one) morning (who were in their 80s) who remembered being (kids) and shopping in downtown Detroit at what at the time was called the United Methodist Publishing House, not even Cokesbury yet,” she said.
The original Michigan store was the sixth Cokesbury retail outlet opened in the United States and the store moved around from a bevy of Detroit locations to Livonia, before ending up in Plymouth.
Mueller smiles at the thought of one regular customer who has been visiting the store for years, in part to relieve some of the stress caused by work.
“We (recently) had a woman in named Victoria and she was so disappointed we were closing and she shared that where she works is very stressful and she’s thankful that often there’s enough time between when she gets out of work and when we close that she can come in and spend 15 minutes sometimes, other times an hour,” Mueller said. “And she said, ‘It’s my sanctuary, it puts me back together.’”
Mueller, whose mother is a retired pastor, had years of retail experience at grocery and clothing stores, but she said being part of Cokesbury was truly her own “ministry calling” for a variety of reasons.
“The people coming in here have a need to fill — they’re missing something and they’re trying to find that something to help them spiritually.”
