After 21 years of running one of Julian’s best-known businesses, a place bird lovers from all over the county drive up the mountain to visit, Rick and Brenda Campbell are reluctantly closing their The Birdwatcher store in September.

“It’s very bittersweet,” said Brenda Campbell. “Closing the store is not what we wanted. We wanted somebody to buy it and continue it. But time marches on and we’re not getting any younger. We want more time to travel and see our grandkids.”

For years the store has served a dual purpose. It’s a service business where locals buy their birdseed and feeders. There no longer is a feed store or a hardware store in town. The local economy has become almost entirely tourism based.

The Birdwatcher is also a gift store offering tourists and locals alike a vast variety of bird-themed items: humming bird feeders, greeting cards, T-shirts, books, stuffed toys and more.


“I get lots of people coming up to get birdseed even though they can get it in San Diego,” Rick Campbell said. “It gives them an excuse. They like coming here and then they go get a pie and go shopping other places. We are truly a destination store so it kills us to have to do this.”

“It’s really a bummer, that’s for sure,” said Robin Boland, vice president of the Julian Chamber of Commerce. “The Birdwatcher has been a great draw to Julian. Lots of people come up to Julian exclusively to visit that store.”

Three years ago the Campbell’s decided they were looking for a way out and tried in earnest to find a buyer who would continue the business. But it never happened.

“Brenda and I have built this through our own passion and love of the business. We just can’t find anybody with that kind of commitment,” Rick said. “We wanted to retire but the people that came forward were just interested in the bottom line, what they would get out of the store, not what they would have to put into it.”


Business has always been good at the store, but recently Rick’s health has not.

Various ailments, including shingles which attacked his face and eye earlier this year, have forced the couple’s decision to close the doors. Once they sell all the merchandise, they plan to lease the building at the corner of 4th and B streets for whatever type of business its new operators plan to run.

“I feel like I’m abandoning the birds of Julian,” Brenda said. “The locals will need to go down the hill (that’s the way Julian residents talk about driving to Ramona or San Diego) to get their seed. Some people will do that but others just won’t feed the birds anymore.”

Rick Campbell, who co-owns The Birdwatcher store in Julian with bags of bird seed. The store is closing in September after 21 years. (J. Harry Jones /San Diego Union-Tribune)


Rick said his doctor has told him to get rid of the shingles he needs to reduce the stress in his life. “The doctor said I need to quit,” he said.

The Campbells will still live in Julian where they’ve been for more than 40 years. Before opening the bird store, Rick, 68, owned a feed store for 18 years and Brenda, 65, owned a gift shop.

They have been putting 60 to 70 hours a week into The Birdwatcher for decades and say it’s simply time to stop.

“We raised our kids here.” Rick said. “It’s safe. It has a small town feel. It’s a great place to live.”


The store still appears to be fully stocked but that’s an illusion. Usually they have $100,000 in extra inventory stored on the second floor of the store. “Now it’s virtually empty,” Brenda said.

The couple want their loyal customers from all over the county to know what’s happening ahead of time.

“We don’t want them to drive up here and be surprised to find the doors closed,” Brenda said.

Rose Mary Gossman moved to Julian about the same time the store opened it’s doors.


“Over the years it has become my go-to gift shop because they have fabulous greeting cards, dish towels, books, calendars,” she said. “I’m just really sad. Brenda and Rick have done a wonderful job. They would go to the trade shows several times a year and their stock was always up to date. Certain times of the year I’m in there weekly buying bird seed.”

Roz Brooks, an 18-year Julian resident, had similar thoughts.

“It’s a wonderful shop and they are great people,” she said. “They are going to be really missed, both the store and themselves.”

She called the store unique, and both Rick and Brenda Campbell friends.


“As opposed to so many of the tourist stores we have up here, this one is just not catering to the tourists but also to the actual birdwatcher, the people who enjoy the birds and stock up on the seed and all sorts of different things,” Brooks said. “We’re going to miss the fact that the store is not there and we’ll miss the happy, smiling faces that we’ve become used to over the years.”


jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones