Uncle Sam's Pawn Shop has been a Downtown fixture since 1949. Today, the store has three walls lined with dozens of electric guitars, another with neon beer signs, and display cases filled with clocks, watches, knives and ancient cameras. An autographed Columbus Blue Jackets jersey hangs high on one wall.

And there's a 7-foot-tall Superman figure on a black platform shaped like a shield.

But on April 15, the business at 225 E. Main St. will be no more. The owners are selling the property to developers interested in an increasingly desirable section of Downtown.

Join the conversation at Facebook.com/columbusdispatch and connect with us on Twitter @DispatchAlerts

"Now that the real estate in this area is being aggressively developed, they want to step away and sell the building," said Russ Volk, Uncle Sam's general manager, who has worked on and off at the business since 1989.

Bettye Jane Klinger and her sister, Cathy Zweig, own the business and have run it since the death of their father, Gary Chasin, three years ago. Chasin had run the business with his father, Irving Chasin, who passed away in 2010.

"My sister and I felt we carried his legacy as long as we could," said Klinger, 52, of New Albany. "We've been an institution since (Harry) Truman was president."

Irving Chasin opened Uncle Sam's in 1949 at 314 E. Main St. He moved the business down the street to its current location about a decade later.

Klinger said Uncle Sam's has repeat customers going back decades. Sometimes, Gary Chasin would buy items from customers including dolls and clocks, knowing he couldn't resell them but wanting to lend a financial hand in tough times.

"We helped people in a way very few people can," Klinger said. "My father said to me, 'Banks lend money to people who don't need it at all.'"

She said her father took time to listen to customers' bad-luck and no-luck stories. The family donated musical instruments to Champion Middle School in recent years. Gary Chasin found the family of a Purple Heart recipient when his medal ended up in the store. And the shop returned a $35,000 violin to the man from whom it was stolen.

"My father and grandfather truly cared for our customers," she said.

One of them, Don Tate, has been buying musical instruments and stereo equipment from Uncle Sam's since the 1970s.

"The people there knew what they were talking about," said Tate, 70, a guitarist and Berwick resident. "I knew Gary, the owner. All the musicians in town loved Gary."

He said he was saddened by Uncle Sam's pending closing. "I don't know where I'm going to go," said Tate, who added that he just enjoyed talking with the staff there.

And even though she and her sister are ready to leave the business, it still isn't easy for Klinger, who brought out a box of photographs of family members over the years.

"It's a very bittersweet feeling," Klinger said.

The sisters are selling the building and business as developers continue to buy up properties in the southeastern part of Downtown.

Mike Simpson of NAI Ohio Equities is marketing the Uncle Sam's property for $1.5 million.

He said he has potential buyers for the site different from the party buying the Meat Packers Outlet building next door at 317 S. 5th St.

That section of Downtown is becoming more desirable for developers who want to build housing, Simpson said. He also pointed out the new Home2Suites by Hilton hotel on East Main Street near Uncle Sam's.

"We are undersupplied with medium-priced apartments," he said. "There's plenty of high-end stuff."

Nearby, the Meat Packers building closed on Tuesday after 317 South Fifth Street LLC acquired the 0.9-acre property in November for $645,000.

“After 61 years of serving the city of Columbus, we are sorry to say we have closed our doors as of January 22, 2019. Thank you for your patronage over the years,” Meat Packers Outlet announced on its Facebook page. The family-owned business opened in 1957 on Main Street, and the business moved to its 5th Street location four years later, according to its website.

Dave Anderson and his AB Partners are behind that purchase. Anderson, president of Homestead America, said he and his partner are building 120 apartments at 195 E. Main St., just west of the Meat Packers site. That six-story project, Harlow on Main, is being marketed to 23- to-27-year-olds, with one-bedroom apartments ranging from 450 to 550 square feet starting at $950 a month.

Anderson said they have no plans yet for the Meat Packers site, which has 40 parking spaces.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik