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From Kimberly Burke:
I am the Grand daughter of Luke Sanders. My mother Bonnie Kelly was also an owner along with Sandy and their brother Jack. Once my grandfather passed away the 3 of them owned it together with Sandy running the company. She ran it well. They all came to a point of retirement so collectively decided to sell since none of the grandchildren were local at the time and no experience in retail. This was their retirement. It was simply time to wrap up a successful business my grandfather started for his family and move on.
This article is incorrect in saying my Aunt Sandy gave her best effort in saving the stores. It's true we consolidated but for many reasons. It was a successful business with its ups and downs over the years. I proudly worked there since the age of 10 until I left Traverse City to pursue further education. Many of my family worked there over the years. This is the accurate writing of how the story went.
Traverse Bay Woolen was started in 1947 by Luther Sanders. Eventually they opened several outlets up north. Ludington, the Soo, Traverse City, Petoskey were a few. There were 12 stores at one point.