In many ways, this column feels like the obituary for an old friend. And it is.

The House of Logan, the region’s keystone shop for classic New England clothing, will close following the annual Early Bird sale on Saturday, Nov. 21.

Alex Logan, 71, who owns and manages the store alongside his sister, Sarah Logan Wilcox, said business is fine, but it was just time to retire.

The pair became the third generation to run the store when the two bought it from their parents in 1987. But, as Alex explains, the family has been here a long time, but not as long as others.

According to Alex (with help from a 2018 Barbara Ramsey column in the Boothbay Register), the Logan family’s Boothbay story began when they started visiting the region around 1900. In 1929, Alex’s grandmother, Ethel, (with help from her mother) started a business selling home goods, wallpaper and, later, clothing, from a building on Townsend Avenue. The business grew after her son, Ward "Bud" Logan, returned from World War II. With help from his wife, Ann, the family business expanded next door, opening the Village Store across the street, and another shop in Camden. In 1959, Bud and Ann bought the business from his mother.

In the 1980s, Alex and Sarah joined the store and later bought the business from their parents. They opened a fourth store in Bath in 2001. The remote locations have now closed.

The siblings partnered to run the stores. Alex managed the business and menswear, while Sarah bought women's and children’s clothing and accessories, and handled advertising.

As the Logans ran the family business, one of the side benefits was making friends with generations of Maine customers, some who began as vacationers and bought summer cabins, while others became year-round residents. “You got to know them, and their families, as more than customers. They were just great people,” said Alex.

Sometimes the customers were celebrities who visited the store with security agents, like John Travolta, who often bought Christmas presents at the Camden store. Others shopped alone, like Margaret Hamilton, a Hollywood actress and Southport resident, known as the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.”

“We never invaded their privacy or made a big deal over their notoriety,” he said.

Over the years, business was good as the classic New England casual styles proved to be good sellers. “People like to come and touch the clothing, whether it is a replacement item or a new garment,” Alex said. And over the years, the retail business model changed as many small stores added online sales features. Logan’s did not.

Talking with other store owners who offer online sales, Alex said those stores must deal with customers who frequently return merchandise.

Is the little Boothbay icon closing because of Amazon and the other big online retailers? Not really. But the business is changing. This year’s summer business was pretty good, despite new tariffs on some clothing imported from Canada. And inflation has driven up inventory costs, he said.

Like other regional businesses, Alex and Sarah struggled to find good employees, although the J-1 summer European immigrants often work at Logan’s as a second job. “They are bright, intelligent, and bring a great deal of diversity into our lives. They are great,” he said.

As Alex talked about his years in the summer retail clothing business, he mused about the characters who worked for the store, like the late Newbert William Alfred Pierce, known as Brud. “He worked for us for 30 years doing maintenance, buildings and grounds, and other chores, but his real job was promoting the town as he sold hot dogs from a cart down the street. In March 1981, Brud was honored at the harbor’s town meeting with the title: 'The Hot Dog King of Boothbay Harbor.' “He was a character, but was really good to us, almost like an uncle,” said Alex.

And for Alex, it has been years dealing with a handicap, as he lost a leg in a boating accident when he was just 23. But he relates his story with a smile. I am just so lucky to be alive,” he said. Sarah said it is just time to retire. Said Alex, “It is the time in your life when you struggle with having to work every day. Sarah and I trade off so we at least get one day off a week. But sometimes it means putting in seven-day work weeks,” he said. “We don’t have any relatives who want to take over the business, so it is time to close and retire.”

So for the next two weeks, the brother and sister act will offer hot deals as they reduce their inventory of classic New England casual styles.

The Boothbay region will miss them. Me, too.