TOWER- It had the force of a Dear John letter. But it was from one of Tower’s sassiest entrepreneurs, and she was breaking up with her hundreds and hundreds of fans.

The relationship that many in our area have with the quirkiest little-yet-big consignment shop in Tower is intense. A draw for junkers, bargain-hunters, thrifty-chic interior decorators, and just about anyone in town who needed that little something you couldn’t buy at a regular store, but wasn’t worth driving to Virginia to buy. A place where a kid with five bucks in their pocket could find something to buy that their parents certainly wouldn’t approve of because it had sharp points or edges. A place full of surprises, if you just looked hard enough.

Last week Julie Petrzilka informed her more than 600 consigners that she would be closing her shop in the fall.

Rick’s Relics opened a little over eight years ago and quickly became a destination stop on Tower’s Main Street. Rick’s took over a niche that had been open since the closing of Bits and Pieces back in the 1990s. But Petrzilka took the consignment shop ideal to a new level, creating an ambiance that took the random collection of thousands of items and organized them by themes, room-by-room, or corner-by-corner, in an old triple-storefront owned by her parents. The themes changed on a regular basis. The room full of red items might become the room full of Easter bunnies the next time you came into the shop.

The shop is impossible to miss. Each morning, Petrzilka or one of her faithful staffers hauls dozens and dozens of “eye-stoppers” out on the sidewalk. Items depend on the season. Right now it’s bikes, lots of bikes, that will catch your attention.

The bad news, for area junkers, is coupled with the good news that Petrzilka and her partner Rich Jenson are the proud parents of a new daughter, the month-old Ariss Florence, also-known-as peanut.

The plan to be a working parent collided with the reality of operating a 3,000 square foot shop piled floor to ceiling with stuff.

“The first time I brought her in the store I looked around and saw a baby death trap,” said Petrzilka. “I couldn’t imagine what would happen when she starts grabbing stuff.”

The amount of time it takes to keep the shop updated is also unmanageable with a baby to take care of.

“After my daughter was born I realized how much time I’ve been spending here,” she said. “It’s often 70-plus hours a week.”

“I’m choosing my peanut,” she said, as she cradled her newborn.

“I didn’t notice how much time it was taking before,” she said. “But now I just can’t do it.”

Another pressing concern is the condition of the building, three storefronts taking up a good portion of the block. Petrzilka actually worked in the same storefront as a teenager, selling bait. The building at that time was not in the best shape, and the years haven’t helped matters.

“I’m up on the roof fixing leaks at least three times a year,” she said.

The plan right now is to stop accepting consignments and keep selling the store’s stock throughout the summer. Consigners have the option of pulling their items prior to Labor Day. The shop will take new items over the summer, but only as donations.

“We have over 600 individual consigners,” she said. “They will need to be responsible for finding their own items to remove, though we will do our best to help them.”

The shop is still getting a steady influx of new items, now all donations.

“I am afraid we are going to have more stuff in here by the end of the summer,” said Julie’s partner Rich Jenson.

Labor Day weekend the shop is planning a huge sidewalk sale.

The shop has some star consigners. She told her top five consigners about the closing first, and within a day, she said, over 20 other consigners had called or stopped by.

The shop’s most loyal consigners might stop by with a truckload of items on a weekly basis, and can bring in over $2,000 a month in sales during the summer, though winter sales are significantly lower.

Future plans

“The business itself has been successful,” she said. “It has supported us 100 percent. And this is the main source of income for some of our consigners.”

She said that many haven’t been surprised with the news, and that there is still the chance that someone else will decide they are interested in taking over the business.

She noted that this last winter was the worst the business had seen.

“You could see the impact of the mine closings,” she said. “It definitely trickled down to us.”

Petrzilka said she is considering going back to school, to get her nursing degree. She worked as an LPN over 10 years ago when she was living in Washington state.

“I am looking forward to a steady paycheck,” she said. Jenson, who also has been working full-time at the shop, said he would like to do more firefighting with the DNR, and perhaps go back into maintenance mechanics.

“I never made an exit plan,” said Petrzilka. “I thought I’d be doing this forever.”

“We love being in Tower,” she said. The couple is now living in Ely, but they own rental houses in Tower and Soudan.

The two didn’t rule out resurrecting Rick’s Relics, a version “2.0”, perhaps in a different location that has better tourist-flow in the winter.

Jenson wondered if Petrzilka would be able to be cured of her junker habit.

“I don’t want our house to be on Hoarders (a reality TV show) next,” he said with a laugh.

“I will always need an outlet for my junking,” she said.