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The Shop in Laurel closes; ‘moving on’ sale under way

SAMANTHA BRIX PHOTO | Kerry Janis, co-owner of The Shop in Laurel, helps Guido and Marge Dossena of Laurel pick out a table.

Kerry Janis was perusing an unfinished furniture store in Maine on an unusually warm October day in 2000 when she first thought of opening her own furniture store in Laurel.

She and her husband, Andrew, opened The Shop on Franklinville Road the next fall, and have been finishing and selling customized furniture there for the past decade.
But the couple has decided to close their doors on Oct. 31.

“The business became too big for just me,” said Ms. Janis, who primarily runs the store. “And with the economy, we couldn’t really hire people to help.”

The couple has been selling furniture ordered primarily from vendors based in Deer Park, Pennsylvania and Oregon. They’ve done all finishing work, including painting and glazing, at the store.

Mr. and Ms. Janis, who live on the second floor of The Shop with their three children, will expand their living space into the first floor of the house when The Shop’s inventory is cleared out.

Ms. Janis will continue teaching interior design courses at Suffolk County Community College, where she has worked for the past five years, and Mr. Janis will continue working as an intensive care unit nurse at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport and at Southampton Hospital.

Ms. Janis will also fulfill a longtime dream of setting up an art studio in a section of the barn, which was built in 2001 to serve as extra storage space for The Shop. The top level of the barn was initially meant to be Ms. Janis’ studio.

“It never became my art studio; it became storage,” she said with a laugh.

Ms. Janis, who was an interior designer and decorative painter at Cabinets Plus in Riverhead before opening The Shop, also plans to start her own interior design business. She’ll work out of the art studio by appointment only.

She said closing The Shop is bittersweet.

“We have so many friends through the store,” Ms. Janis said from behind The Shop’s counter on Monday.

“I’m going to miss this place on Fridays,” she added, glancing around her store. “This place was always packed on Fridays.”

Mr. Janis said he’ll miss “bringing a beautiful piece into someone’s house and seeing the look on their face.”

A sale is currently under way at The Shop, where pieces of furniture have been marked down 20 to 50 percent. Though the store is closing at the end of the month, Ms. Janis said she and her husband are still taking new orders at discounted prices and will continue working until all orders are complete.

The Shop will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until it closes on Oct. 31.

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