After vacating 1111 Camino del Rio to make way for a hotel, the owner of The Rock Lounge plans to turn an antique store into a climbing gym.
Therese Teiber has wanted to close her store Treasures by Therese at 111 E. 30th Street for two years, but it took longer to sell her building than she anticipated.
After 32 years in business, Teiber will close her store on May 27, and Marcus Garcia expects to start turning the building from the 1940s into a gym.
Garcia’s longtime friends, Jean and Andy Gresh, bought the building as an investment and they are leasing it to The Rock Lounge.
“We have always just loved Marcus and he has a great vision for the climbing in Durango,” Jean Gresh said.
Initially, Garcia plans to use the building as an office and meeting place for climbers who will practice outside during the summer, he said.
The first stage of renovations will include two new parking spaces behind the building and new bathrooms in the building, Gresh said.
The main warehouse space in the building will be turned into the bouldering room, with climbing walls around the perimeter, Gresh said.
Garcia plans to call on volunteers to help with some of the construction and help rebuild his business.
“I am basically starting from ground zero again,” he said.
As funding becomes available, the business plans to raise the roof on a section of the building to make room for ropes climbing, Gresh said.
“They have the square footage that they can really grow,” Gresh said.
She expects the building will be the long-term home for the business.
Before the work can start however, Teiber must empty her main showroom, which is still full of china, furniture, antique toys, comic books, costumes and other oddities.
The shop was a go-to stop for Halloween and Snowdown attendees and still boasts plenty of fancy-dress options such as vintage jackets, formal dresses and a Big Bird suit.
Teiber opened the business with her husband John in 1985 and he focused on buying the merchandise while she ran the retail side and gave special attention to the costume section. Some she made and others she ordered or collected.
She continued running the store after John died in 2013. But now, she’s ready to retire and spend time gardening and with her grandchildren.
Treasures by Therese is one of two antique stores closing at the end of May. Durango’s Indoor Flea Market also plans to close this month after 18 years.
As more and more people have turned to shopping online, the antique market has changed, and mom-and-pop antique stores may fade away, Teiber said.
“The younger generation is going to miss that connection of feeling something and seeing something,” she said of shopping in person.
To get ready for The Rock Lounge, Teiber is selling merchandise at deep discounts, from 50 to 75 percent off.
Gresh sees the move as part of the transformation happening on the north Main Avenue corridor, and she thinks it will fit well into the quirky building.
“I think the spirit of The Rock Lounge is really going to shine there,” she said.
One of the major hurdles has been meeting the city’s parking standards, and while they don’t have to meet the initial parking standards, Garcia must put in two new parking spaces behind the building and lease two spaces from the Durango Travelodge, Gresh said.
“We were under contract and didn’t know until day before closing if the city was going to approve our parking situation,” she said.
Many of Garcia’s climbers are teenagers and he expects many people to walk or bike to the gym.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
