Waxing nostalgic

NostalgiaVille owners to close doors, focus on online store

Owners Ron and Judi Dunwoody pose with two of the "stars" of NostalgiaVille, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. The popular roadside attraction in Kingdom City will close its doors this year, as the business becomes an online-only vendor of '50s-themed clothes and party supplies.
Owners Ron and Judi Dunwoody pose with two of the "stars" of NostalgiaVille, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. The popular roadside attraction in Kingdom City will close its doors this year, as the business becomes an online-only vendor of '50s-themed clothes and party supplies.

After spending nearly 18 years in the 1950s, Ron and Judi Dunwoody have earned the right to be nostalgic.

NostalgiaVille USA's owners have operated the roadside memorabilia store in Kingdom City since January 1996, helping people across the nation and even the world get back in touch with an era of poodle skirts, soda jerks and jukeboxes belting rock "n' roll.

But after all that time, the Dunwoodys have decided it is time to close up shop and focus on their increasingly popular - and easier to manage - online store.

"We're at retirement age," Ron Dunwoody said. "The business has been very good to us and we've been well-received in the community. The economy has been a struggle with anyone to deal with items that are not required, but as much as the store has gone down, the web has taken off."

Dunwoody said the store will continue to sell off its in-store inventory at 20 percent off until they close by Christmas. From then on, the business will only exist on the web at nostalgicstuffusa.com.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.