A 64-year-old story is coming to an end in Parkdale as Designer Fabrics closes its doors forever, leaving behind an indelible mark on Toronto’s fashion industry.

“I feel sad but, when you reach the age of 88, I think it’s time to walk out instead of being carried out,” says store founder and owner Sheldon Fainer.

“I love it, I will miss it; I had a good time with people, I made a buck, I did my best in this community while I was capable and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

From ordinary folk to the film and theatre industries, Designer Fabrics has become a household name for selling fabric, trim and hardware. The store at the corner of Queen St. W. and Brock Ave. supplied material to the Stratford and Shaw festivals. Renowned interior designers such as Sarah Richardson and Brian Gluckstein have shopped there.

Even costume designers for the Murdoch Mysteries television show and, most recently, the Oscar-winning movie The Shape Of Water have sourced items there.

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But Fainer says he knows it’s time for him and his wife, Beverly, to retire. The couple recently bought and moved into a condo near Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave., but Fainer says it will be hard to adjust.

“I don’t know how to live in another place after so many years here in Parkdale,” he says.

He didn’t want to sell the business as is, and none of their three children wanted to take over and run it. So much the better, according to Fainer.

“I would be freaking out. I wouldn’t want anything to be messed up within my business,” he says.

Sitting in his office on the upper level of the store on Friday — decorated with pictures of grandkids, and framed messages and awards from various organizations — the self-made businessman reflected on the journey that brought Designer Fabrics to what it is today.

As a young immigrant from Poland, who arrived in Canada in the early 1950s, Fainer says he worked odd jobs like mopping floors of restaurants and offices across the city.

When he had enough capital, he opened a small rental storefront. Later he bought it and bought a property next to it, then the next one, and now his store has grown into almost an entire block covering more than 30,000 square feet.

Over the years he has travelled to India, Belgium, Italy, Germany, China and many other places, developing contacts with fabrics suppliers and retailing their wares to the Canadian market.

You get a sense of Designer Fabrics’ influence and its community outreach simply by looking at plaques, certificates and congratulatory messages adorning shelves in Fainer’s office.

Her Majesty the Queen presented him with a Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. He got a trademarks certificate from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in 2007. On his 68th birthday in 1998, then prime minister Jean Chrétien sent him a framed congratulatory note.

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But while all of that brings a wonderful feeling, Fainer says his biggest reward is the connection he has developed with ordinary shoppers.

He takes pride in the time he spent serving as president and chair of the local BIA, his time on the Toronto Film, Television and Digital Media Board (appointed by former mayor David Miller), and the donations the shop has made to places such as Sick Kids and Toronto General Hospital.

“Yesterday a lady came in with her two grandchildren. She says she wanted to show them the place her own parents brought her to shop when she was 10,” he says. “That’s what I love about this place.”

As all items are on sale in the last week of operation, both floors at Designer Fabrics are abuzz with customers. Some stop Fainer in the hallway and let him know how they feel.

“You can’t retire,” Jeanine Fleet, a Parkdale resident who has frequented the store over the last 20 years, tells him.

“There’s nowhere else to go,” she later says. “I have always come here even when I wasn’t buying anything, just to observe and be inspired.”

Angie Clarke, the store’s general manager who has worked here for over 35 years, said the Fainers have become like a family to her and other employees.

“We all fell in love with these people,” she says.

“Their creativity, their thoughts, their passion for this business and the community. There are many design shops in the city, but no other place has that kind of experience.”

Designer Fabrics has already closed its online shopping services. On-site activity is supposed to end Saturday, but Fainer admitted he may have to extend it for another week.

After all, the place is still full of rolls and rolls of cloth. Probably about 400 yards of fabric, according to Fainer’s estimation. He hopes somebody will buy it eventually, or else he’ll keep it or donate it. He says he doesn’t know what to do with the building, now that he’s retiring.

As he closes the shop, Fainer admits it is a “dying business.”

“In the fashion industry you need young people. But they don’t believe in antique. They’re all Ikea customers,” he says, sounding almost nostalgic.

“I gave it the best I could have. I am financially well off, and a few dollars more won’t make me or break me,” he says. “Now it’s time to let the young ones take over and do it.”