It’s an end of an era in Hillsboro Village.

Davis Cookware and Cutlery Shoppe, the charming, family-owned retail store packed with all kinds of inventory, is closing after decades in the neighborhood. The store at 1717 21st Ave. S. is having a “going fishing” sale before the store closes in the next two to three weeks.

Women’s retail store Molly Green, which has locations in East Nashville, Green Hills and Franklin, will take over the space once the cookware shop closes.

“I have decided to go fishing, as we call it in the Davis family,” said Scott Davis, son of the late Ted Davis Jr. and Mary Lou Davis, who started a needlecraft store in Hillsboro Village in 1969 and a few years later expanded into cutlery and cookware. “We’re thanking everybody for 50 great years.”

The Davis family had a tremendous impact on Hillsboro Village. At one time, they operated the needlecraft shop, the cookware store, a hardware store and a women’s clothing store, all along the same stretch of 21st Avenue.

“From 1981 to about 1984, all five sons worked in retail in the Village, along with Mary Lou Davis and Ted Davis,” Scott Davis said. “There were seven Davis’s in the Village.”

Ted Davis Jr. was often credited with starting the cookware shop, but it was Mary Lou Davis who loved cooking for her five sons and husband. In the 1970s, they started selling cutlery in Mary Lou’s needlecraft store at 1721 21st Ave. (which later became Pangaea and is now Arcade children’s store).

The cookware and cutlery shop opened in its existing location at 1717 21st Ave. S. in 1976. It’s packed with cookware, gadgets, coffee and all kinds of things you didn’t even know you wanted. You usually see members of the Davis family milling about and regaling customers with stories.

Scott Davis has fond memories of the relationships his mother developed with young moms in the neighborhood. Women would come in the store and ask questions about their baby’s cough or other parenting advice.

“My mother was giving women help with their children because their parents weren’t in Nashville. Mom was like a mother to hundreds of women,” Scott Davis said.

Similarly, Ted Davis Jr. was passionate about helping people and he liked to make sure people actually needed a product before he would make a sale.

“We weren’t pushy sales people. If you didn’t need it, we didn’t want you to buy it,” Scott Davis said. “We didn’t make a lot of money. We never did. What we called priceless were the moments we got to share with the customers.”

Scott Davis, who runs the business, said it was time to close the store so he could travel, write three books he’s working on, go fishing in North Carolina’s Outer Banks and work on his coffee catering business. He’s a partner in the Ocoee Coffee Company in Cleveland, Tenn., where he plans to hole up and spend more time writing.

He’ll continue as landlord of four buildings in Hillsboro Village, including 1721 21st Ave. where Arcade children’s shop opened recently, 1713-1715 21st Ave. where Peacock Jewelers operates and 1717 21st Ave. where Molly Green women’s clothing store will open.

He views closing the cookware shop as a “passing of the torch” to a younger generation in Hillsboro Village, which has become a hotspot for women’s shopping and eating/drinking at the growing number of restaurants and bars.

“We’ve always thought the Village was for young entrepreneurs to have an ability to come in and start a business and grow, and we believe in keeping the rents fair. We did not go for the highest bidders, we decided to go with people we felt would be a great addition to the community,” Scott Davis said.

The Davis Cookware closure comes during a time of significant transition in Hillsboro Village. The neighborhood has lost many longtime businesses in the last five years, including Provence Breads & Café, Pangaea, BookManBookWoman, Boscos Restaurant & Brewing Co., Sunset Grill, Sam’s Sports Grill and Jackson’s Bar & Bistro. (Read more about all the closures here)

With all the tenant turnover, Hillsboro Village has emerged as a women’s shopping hub with a handful of boutiques. The neighborhood has also transitioned to more restaurants/bars and less retail over the decades.

“For me, us trying to keep the Village that kind of hidden secret, obviously that’s not going to work anymore. I see the future of the Village, whoever has the biggest bucks can put a $50 million building. …That’s kind of the future. We’re still trying to keep the main drag on 21st the same way it has always been,” Scott Davis said.

Inventory at Davis Cookware will be a third off for the first week of the “going fishing” sale. Prices will drop from there until everything is gone.

Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.