A sad, sad day- Zim's has gone away

!

I have just had some of the shocking news of my life.

We all went downtown to buy some glow in the dark paint and some styrofoam balls. We're going to make stars, comets and planets to hang in the girls' room. As we walked up to the doors of one of my most beloved places on earth, Zim's, an ominous sign caught my eye: 'Going out of business'. Nevermind that everything in the store is 40% off, the mecca of all craft stores will soon be gone.

Some of my fondest memories as a child are when Mom would take us to Zim's and give us $10. We were free to roam the isles, dreaming of the fun things we could make with each item. We would carefully choose our treasures to buy. No trip was complete without beads, pipecleaners, google eyes and pom poms. That place was a wonderland of endless fun.

When I brought my treasures to the counter, the clerk mourned as she rang them up.
"Where else can you buy tiny baskets?" She rhetorically asked as she held up a basket the size of my pinky nail, "Nowhere! Who else sells these? No one!"

Gram put it well when she lamented, "Zim's is a historic landmark!" Oh historical preservation society, where art though?