Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and John Remackel's lighting store will shut down soon, March 23 ,2017. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

John Remackel helps customer Mary Beth Ferguson of Arden Hills find the correct globe for her lamp at John's Antiques on West Seventh Street in St. Paul, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and Remackel's lighting store will shut down soon. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and the largest remaining business will shut down soon, March 23 ,2017. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and John Remackel's lighting store will shut down soon, March 23 ,2017. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and the largest remaining business will shut down soon, March 23 ,2017. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)



Half of the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul is vacant, and the largest remaining business will shut down soon, March 23 ,2017. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Those in the market for a $25,000 Victorian-era crystal chandelier — say, something salvaged in the 1960s from a mansion behind the State Capitol building as the freeway went in — are out of luck.

John Remackel already sold that item to a home builder in Iowa. But he’s got thousands of other options for you, most of it 70 percent off until it’s all gone.

Remackel, who has flirted with retirement before, is officially closing up his St. Paul shop at John’s Antiques and Anderson’s Lamps on West Seventh Street. By the end of April, everything must go. He’ll host an in-store auction to get rid of whatever’s left in May.

Remackel, who previously announced his pending retirement in the summer of 2015, has new reasons to give up the shop at 261 West Seventh St. that has carried his name for 50 years.

"We don't have plastic. It's junk," said John Remackel, of John's Antiques/Anderson's Lamps, closing by May. pic.twitter.com/LXHoXS97bp — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) March 23, 2017

His mother, Sophie Remackel, a longtime store employee and great-great-grandmother, passed away in February at the age of 99. Asked why he’s leaving, Remackel pauses on a tour of the building that was occupied decades earlier by the original Cossetta pizzeria and deli. “I’m 77. What do you want me to do — like my mother, die here?”

Around the time of her passing, his landlord let him know that his $4,000-a-month rent would be going up. The store owner didn’t bother to ask by how much.

“He said it’s going up, and I said ‘then I’ll move.’ I can’t afford it,” Remackel said. “Well, I can, but then I’m working just for rent. I don’t blame him, the way taxes are.”

Meanwhile, the street is changing around him.

For lease: an entire block of West Seventh Street. pic.twitter.com/ThLuwGQw4L — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) March 22, 2017

From Walnut Street halfway to Sherman Street, the Rochat-Louise-Sauerwein block will have completely emptied out at street level once he’s gone. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the three contiguous brick buildings date back to 1885-1895 and make up one of the few remaining intact late-Victorian commercial blocks in St. Paul. Related Articles Minneapolis and St. Paul to add 70 electric car charging stations

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“It is remarkable now. When John leaves, and you look up and down this block, there’s six places that say they have space for lease at the street level,” said Mike Black, an attorney who maintains his law offices above John’s Antiques and has overseen the building on behalf of his wife, the property owner, since 1979. “I think it’s just a coincidence. I don’t think all of those same spaces will be empty a year from now. Parking is a challenge … To me, it’s just a transition process.”

The block’s second- and third-floor spaces are occupied by residential tenants, law offices, an aikido dojo, an artist and a violin maker. But street-level is a different story.

A ground-level storefront next door to John’s Antiques, once filled by Black’s law offices, has been partially converted into a lobby. A former cigar shop mid-block sits empty. Between them, the space formerly occupied by the antique shop Grandma’s Attic — once described by a Yelp reviewer as “glorious clutter, organized chaos” — was poised to become the Glensman Irish Pub. But fresh red paint on the exterior and a sign announcing that the “Northern Irish are Coming” appears to have been premature.

On Sept. 29, city inspectors issued the pub owner a “stop work” order for starting interior plumbing work without appropriate permits. There’s also a question as to whether the bright red exterior violates restrictions put forth by the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission. The building owner this month posted an eviction notice, and the “Irish are Coming” sign has been taken down.

Across the street, the former Disanto’s Fort Road Florist sold its building to a real estate developer, and the structure has been remodeled for lease.

The series of contiguous vacancies sit in stark contrast to the type of trendy commercial activity unfolding a bit further down the road in either direction. Remackel’s storefront used to house the Cossetta pizzeria and deli, which now spans a flashy, multi-level restaurant, deli, bakery and rooftop bar at 211 West Seventh.

At 200 West Seventh, where a small religious center and an 80-year-old Seven Corners Ace Hardware once stood, a Hampton Inn and Suites recently opened next to Oxbo, a six-story, 191-unit luxury apartment building. A New Bohemia restaurant specializing in sausage and craft beers now anchors the closest corner.

“You could make an argument that there’s more economic activity happening on West Seventh Street than anywhere else in downtown,” Black said.

Everyone seems to be offering craft beer these days. But how many folks sell century-old lamps?

“I think it’s leaving a big hole,” said Mary Beth Ferguson of Arden Hills, who left John’s Antiques on Thursday with her arms loaded with boxes of lamp parts. “I was directed to a place in Minneapolis, and this store has many more choices.”

It’s clear Remackel’s knowledge of lamps — many of his items date back to the 1890s — will be missed, but will he miss the store? “I’ll miss the people,” said Remackel, looking exasperated with his own collection, which has grown faster than its fan base. “I bought almost everybody out in town here.”

Years ago, he acquired a store from a lampshade vendor, Anderson’s Lampshades.

But do millennials buy lampshades? No, they don’t.

He eventually trimmed the title to Anderson’s Lamps, and kept their employee, Paul Giese, as his only official worker.

Friends, volunteers looking to keep busy, and a self-described independent contractor named Karl Kester, who has hung out in the shop basement since 1985 have kept him company. Kester restores electric and gas fixtures that date from 1885 to 1920.

Remackel knows his life could have gone in a far different direction. His father hauled trash, like his father before him. A fateful encounter with a brass lamp in the dump started him selling lamps out of his home, and since then he’s run three different storefronts in 50 years, all of them within a block of West Seventh and Chestnut streets.

When a customer asks about replacing a plastic part, Remackel grimaces. “We don’t have plastic,” he says, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s junk.”