If you heard this business is closing, you heard wrong; but there is something going on

When we first checked in with the inimitable Helen Galloway just after Christmas, she was as cheerful and ready to do business as ever.

“How can I help you, honey?” she asked.

We told her we’d heard a little something about her and her First Place.

“That I’m changing my life a little bit?” Galloway asked.

Well, sort of. It sounded more like she was closing her jewelry and gift store that celebrated half a century in business in 2023.

That’s not the case, as it turns out, though that’s what some have erroneously thought.

The store, which is in the Comotara development at 29th North and Rock Road, also has a current half-off-almost-everything sale that has added fuel to that closing-talk fire.

In actuality, the store is going through a couple of transitions.

“We just don’t need a brick-and-mortar as big as we have,” said Buff Dodson, Galloway’s daughter.

So after the sale, the First Place temporarily will locate in space next door that’s currently storage.

Dodson and John Reid, who has helped at the store for three years, said Galloway has a passion for collectibles and therefore has storage units and pods full of items, so there’s going to be a lot to get through.

Though she absolutely doesn’t want to call her mother a hoarder, Dodson pondered if there’s such a thing as “a hoarder of beautiful things.”

Reid noted that “over a certain price point, it’s called a collector.”

“She just won’t quit buying,” Dodson said. “It keeps her going. It keeps her young.”

Galloway, who turns 94 in May, has seen a lot of trends come and go during the more than 50 years she’s been in business. That’s why the store often has changed what it’s sold.

For instance, brides don’t necessarily register for china and silver anymore.

At the new temporary space, Galloway will focus mostly on jewelry while still keeping some gift items.

Eventually, Dodson said they’ll find a new, smaller space the First Place can call home for the future.

“We’re not going to close at any point,” she said. “We’ll just keep it fluid.”

Dodson and Reid said they want to remain on the east side, though Reid noted that the market is awfully tight.

They — and Galloway — said she’ll remain a presence at the store.

“I work six days a week, honey.”

Dodson said her cousin “David Jabara has always said she might just outlive all of us.”

Case in point: When the store closed Tuesday due to snow, and people like Dodson and Reid enjoyed staying at home and warm, Galloway didn’t.

“She’s kind of pouting today,” Dodson said.

Along with offering customers some “fabulous deals,” Dodson said, “We’re excited for the next phase.”

She said she’ll keep us posted on plans.

Customers, some of whom come in simply to visit with Galloway, can be assured she’ll be wherever the store lands.

As Galloway said, “It’s been 50 of the most wonderful years of my life.”