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Elf Shop closing after 42 years of Christmas spirit

Photos: Christmas Shop closing

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Jane Puderbaugh (left) and her sister-in-law Barbara Gribler are closing up their Elf Shop at 4077 Salem Ave. after 42 years in business. The shop was known for its Steinbach smokers, wooden figures that puff smoke from incense lighted inside their hollow bodies.

Jan Underwood/Staff photographer Jane Puderbaugh (left) and her sister-in-law Barbara Gribler are closing up their Elf Shop at 4077 Salem Ave. after 42 years in business. The shop was known for its Steinbach smokers, wooden figures that puff smoke from incense lighted inside their hollow bodies.

Sisters-in-law had hoped to find a buyer for store but none materialized.

By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 9:49 AM Wednesday, November 11, 2009

HARRISON TWP., Montgomery County — The Elf Shop, which gave customers a dose of Christmas spirit with international flair far from the crowds of mall shoppers, is closing after 42 years in business.

After tending the store at 4077 Salem Ave. from September to December since 1979, sisters-in-law Barbara Gribler and Jane Puderbaugh will hold a final, half-off, cash-only sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 19-21.

The two Trotwood residents took over the store from Bob and Ruth Reedy, continuing the couple’s focus on selling German and Swedish traditional items. They came to know generations of shoppers, many of whom were out-of-towners whose husbands who would sit by the store’s fireplace while their wives shopped.

Both said they’ll miss their customers most, and thanked shoppers for their loyalty. They figure they know 75 percent of their customers by name.

They hoped to find a buyer for the business, but none has materialized.

“It was very hard to decide to do this,” Puderbaugh said. Added Gribler, “We have some four-generation families.”

The shop was known for its Steinbach smokers, wooden figures that puff smoke from incense lighted inside their hollow bodies. It also sold items featuring tomten, or mythical Scandinavian sprites said to dwell in the attics of barns that were given bowls of porridge at Christmas.

Donna Zobrist of Riverside has been coming to the Elf Shop for decades. Her mother, the late Dorothy Steinbach, came into the store one Christmas Eve after reading a newspaper article 30 years ago that mentioned its German Steinbach ornaments.

“Every year, we got a Steinbach ornament of some kind,” Zobrist said. After her mother passed away, Zobrist continued the tradition with her family.

Her most treasured item is a Steinbach smoker in the form of a baker. It was a gift from Gribler and Puderbaugh last year after Zobrist brought them soup for lunch during the busy holiday season.

“They know their customers so well,” added Zobrist, who said she was able to find more among the Elf Shop’s carefully selected merchandise than she could at a much larger Christmas shop in Frankenmuth, Mich. “It won’t be the same.”

Those wishing to contact the store during next week’s final sale may call (937) 275-0832. The store is inside a red, white and green building to the rear of the Ever-So-Fresh barber shop.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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