Glenwood’s Mountain Peddler readies to move on

After 31 years of owning downtown store, Chaffin is looking for her next adventure

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Post Independent Photos Joan Chaffin has decided to retire and close her store, The Mountain Peddler, after 31 years. “It’s the beginning of a new adventure and I’m up to the challenge,” she said. Kelley Cox Post Independent

By John Gardner
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
March 28, 2008

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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Joan Chaffin believes in always having a plan B.

Thursday morning was a typical day for Glenwood’s original peddler, Chaffin. She opened the doors to her gift shop, The Mountain Peddler, promptly at 10 a.m. The 69-year-old brewed some coffee and settled in for the day just as she had most days
over the past 31 years.

Not long after, shoppers were making their way through the store peering at trinkets
and knickknacks.

“I think I’m ready,” spoke one lady as she approached the counter, her arms carrying
several souvenirs of her morning browse.

A brief exchange of word, conversation among friends, followed by a faint laugh.

“Thank you,” the lady said as she gathered her new gifts.

“Your very welcome,” Chaffin responded, pleasantly.

A response she’s given several times over the years. A response that her customers

won’t hear much longer, as Chaffin plans to retire as Glenwood’s purveyor of fine
gifts.

The business — which Joan started just a few years after she and her husband Bob
moved here in 1974 from Dublin, Ohio — is arguably the oldest remaining retail
business in Glenwood Springs. Nestled right in the heart of Glenwood’s downtown
district, the business wasn’t her initial plan for a career, but it worked out very well in
the end as the place they called home.

“We just decided to chuck it and we came out here without jobs,” she recalled with a
chuckle. “We took a chance and we had a good life here.”

But change rolls through the valley as quickly as spring runoff. And as the runoff
flows, so will Joan venture down the stream of life this spring to see where her raft will
end up. It will likely end up on the Eastern side of the state, in Highlands Ranch, to be
closer to her son and his family.

“It’s time for a new adventure,” Joan said. Her confident stare supporting her smile.

After Bob passed away from kidney cancer in September 2001, Joan started working
six days a week at the shop. It was her reason to get up every morning, she said. But
with sudden significant change, time proves the best remedy. After the raging waters
of grief began to calm, there was a decision for Joan to make.

“When (you lose your spouse) you have to make some life changes,” she said.
“Everything comes to a grinding halt and you have to reassess what you want to do
with your life.”

You have to go to plan B.

Her working ways, and the six-days-a-week, were coming to a grinding halt as well.
During a two-week trip to Japan to visit her daughter, she realized it was time for that
change.

“That was the first two-week vacation that I’ve ever taken,” she said. “And I didn’t miss
the shop at all.”

She knew the store was in good hands with her employees P.J. Click and Jan
Scarlett looking after things, but Joan knew that the shop wasn’t where she wanted to
be anymore. It was no longer the life she wanted.

“I’ve always felt a little claustrophobic in this narrow little valley,” she said.

There is no telling what the future will hold for the store space when it’s gone. But the
Mountain Peddler will soon close and Joan will leave the mountains to return to the
flatter ground she knew growing up in Ohio.

“I’m a farm girl anyway. I grew up on flat ground,” she said. “Besides, Glenwood is
changing and it’s not all for the good.”

It was surely a different scene on Grand Avenue when she and Bob blew into town.
Just as it will surely be a different scene when she’s gone. Her biggest concern is that
she will become one of those, “non-make-up wearing, sweat-suit wearing” retirees.
But, she’s got a plan for that, too.

“I’m going to buy a bike and stay fit,” she said. “It’s the beginning of a new adventure
and I’m up to the challenge. This shop has been my reason to get up in the morning
for the last five years. There’s more to life out there.”
There’s always a plan B.

Contact John Gardner: 384-9114jgardner@postindependent.com


Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO