Farewell to The Gilded Lily: Downtown’s timeless shop closes its doors

WENATCHEE — The line stretched for blocks down Wenatchee Avenue on Sunday afternoon, a living ribbon of nostalgia winding toward a familiar black-and-gold storefront. After more than twenty years at the corner of Palouse Street, The Gilded Lily — Marc and Kathy Ball’s downtown gift and home store — opened its doors for one last sale.

Inside, customers browsed thinning shelves with the reverence of museumgoers. Outside, people swapped stories about holiday shopping trips, bridal gifts, or that one truffle they couldn’t resist. It was the store’s final open house, a farewell to a business that had outlasted trends, recessions, and even a pandemic, and had come to embody downtown Wenatchee’s sense of place.

The Gilded Lily Home opened just after the start of the new millennium in the historic Olympia Hotel building, a brick landmark built in 1908 by saloonkeeper J.M. Duffy. The hotel, once among the most modern on the Columbia River corridor, boasted brass-bed rooms, steam heat, and an elevator, which were novelties for its day. Its ground floor originally housed the Gem Theater and cigar shop; later decades saw PayLess Drug, Andy’s Hat Shop, and Four Seasons Sporting Goods cycle through the space. When the Balls purchased and restored the property, they revived a street-level tradition of local commerce that had run nearly uninterrupted for more than a century.

The store’s website described its mission as celebrating life’s moments “with intentionality, flavor, and style” — a philosophy that shaped the way Kathy Ball curated each display of the store’s eclectic blend of home décor, jewelry, baby gifts, specialty foods and more. For twenty-plus years, The Gilded Lily did exactly that, becoming part boutique, part community parlor.

On the final day, shoppers waited hours for the chance to step inside one last time. Ward Media caught up with them at about 1:30 p.m.

“I’ve probably been coming here six or seven years — maybe even before we moved here,” said Heather Henriksen, shuffling forward in the line she’d been in since 10:50 a.m. “I’m very sad to see them go. I’ve always loved the high-quality merchandise … and the truffles. Always the truffles.” She laughed. “We had truffle punch cards.” Her favorite? Lemon.

A few places behind in line, Janie Noviello smiled at the mention of truffles. “I’ve been coming to The Gilded Lily the entire time I’ve lived here,” she said. “You can find things here you can’t find anywhere else, unique, cool stuff. I like the hats, too.” And Janie’s favorite truffle? “Coffee,” she says quickly, then “Ooh, or bourbon. Or caramel. All the good stuff.”

By midday, the line spilled down the block, at that point reaching all the way back to First Street. The crowd included young families, longtime patrons, and couples pausing for photos in front of the gilded-script sign. Even those who came only for the discount sale left with the sense that they were witnessing something larger: A goodbye to a fixture that had defined downtown retail long before the boutique boom.

The store’s closure follows the Balls’ retirement. Dr. Marc Ball, a local dentist and jewelry maker, designed many of the store’s displays and decorative pieces; Kathy ran daily operations. Together they turned a century-old storefront into one of Wenatchee’s signature shopping experiences, blending modern taste with old-world hospitality.

With this store closing, the crowd lingered longer than necessary after leaving with their purchases, snapping last photos through the windows. Inside, the gleam of glass ornaments and the scent of chocolate truffles hung in the air. For downtown regulars, it felt like the end of an era, but also a reminder of how deeply a single storefront can shape a community’s memory.

The Olympia Hotel building will remain, its painted brick brightening an otherwise darker row of stores — a faint echo of 1908 craftsmanship. Whatever comes next in that space will inherit more than good bones. It will inherit the legacy of The Gilded Lily and the people who kept it shining.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media