Lundy’s Hallmark closing at Sycamore, ending 60 years in Iowa City

Dave Dewitte

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By KCRG Intern

Story Created: Jan 24, 2012 at 9:22 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jan 24, 2012 at 9:22 PM CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa- Lundy’s Hallmark will close its Sycamore Mall store by March 15, ending a family retailing venture that continued 60 years in Iowa City.

Changes at the mall would have required the relocation of the store to another mall space, said Gary Lundquist, second generation owner of the family business.

Lundquist said the store was treated well by Sycamore Mall, but the growing use of email and e-cards and the growing number of greeting card lines that compete with Hallmark have made the business less profitable. At 58, he said he’s also starting to look toward retirement. He has one other Lundy’s Hallmark location left in West Des Moines’ Valley West Mall.

“There are more ways to communicate than sending greeting cards,” Lundquist said, “although it is not as personal.”

The card and gift business dates back to 1951, when L. H. “Hal” Lundquist, Gary’s father, bought a small catalog store and gift shop at 109 S. Dubuque St. in 1951 from another World War II veteran who had been called up from reserve status to serve in the Korean conflict.

Hal Lundquist soon dropped the catalog business, added flowers, and became a Hallmark retailer. In the mid-1960s, he opened a second business at 129 S. Dubuque St. that he operated as Cards Et Cetera Ltd.

Gary Lundquist bought the business in 1986, and operated multiple locations in Iowa City, the most recent being Sycamore Mall. He also had as many as three Lundy’s Hallmark locations in the Des Moines area.

Lundquist said some of the bigger setbacks to the business came when Coral Ridge Mall opened, selecting another company as its greeting card tenant, and began eroding the business at the Old Capitol Town Center where Lundy’s Hallmark was located.

Lundy’s Hallmark in Sycamore Mall has six employees, one of them full-time. It will close by March 15 after a going-out-of-business sale that starts Monday, and runs through the Valentine’s Day card season.

The closing decision was tough, Lundquist said, especially because of the impact on employees.

“It’s been a career for me,” Lundquist said. “As much as you don’t want to tie your self worth to the ups and downs of the retail industry, you do.”

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