ACWORTH, Ga. — In the heart of Acworth, you'll find a store called Two LiRu Antiques & Decor -- at least for now.
The second you walk in, the walls are filled with trinkets, vintage signs, and posters. The rooms are full of memorabilia, vinyl records, clothing, jewelry, coins, and more. If you walk downstairs, you may find things scarier than what you can find at a Halloween store and yes, even a casket.
It's 9,000 square feet of antiques. Or, as customer George Delalla says, "It's full of nostalgia."
"It gives a reflection of the past, the present, and what you may want to do for the future on collecting or just buying products in here," he said.
But when he walked into the store Thursday morning, Delalla was met with unexpected news.
"I drove by and I made a U-turn and came in here and I said, 'Is that sign for real?'" he recalled.
That sign announced the store's closure.
"It broke my heart thinking it's going to be gone. Acworth is changing. To see this being gone, Acworth is losing a little bit of its past. It's hard to put a nail on the wood on this."
After 8 years, owner Lisa Mack and manager Ryan Blankenberger say Two LiRu Antiques will have to relocate and downsize.
"We were given a 60-day notice to vacate," Mack said. "They are going to be either subdividing or selling the building as we understand it."
They say it has been an emotional time, after all the support they've received from the community.
"We want to let Acworth know we're really, really thankful for all your support," Blankenberger said.
After all, Blankeberger said the store had a good run.
"We made it through COVID. We beat the odds. This has become a community hub," he said. "We're sad to be leaving. It'd be easy to take it personally, but we don't."
That's why they've decided that, although they have to go away from this location, nothing can stop them from moving elsewhere.
They will be moving from their prime location on Main Street, which once served as Acworth's primary business district, to 4510 South Main Street. This new building will be 2,000 square feet -- a much smaller space compared to its multi-level 10,000 square-foot space it currently occupies.
"You can see the mountain-size task it will be to liquidate here, so we're going to continue to discount what we cannot take to the new shop with us and just really praying to be out in time," Mack said.
Their 60-day notice arrived at the end of May. They say that means they'll likely have to be out by the end of July.
Community members, like Will Britton, who has been coming to the store since it first opened, say they are upset they have to move out in the first place.
"It's definitely going to change the foot traffic because there are nice restaurants and things to eat but that was the thing – it was a destination," Britton said. "(We would say) let's go to Two LiRu and take a look around and get a bite to eat. It helps bring people down to the area. When you don’t have places people can corral or walkthrough, it changes the whole community and the way stores operate."
Blankenberger and Mack are hosting an auction the third week in July and will hold a store-closing sale where they will be liquidating all of their inventory within the upcoming weeks.
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