Marilen’s closing its doors this week

Maricopa furniture store Marilen’s Imports will be closing its doors this week, and the owner, Jodi Jaffe, blames much of her trouble on city hall.

“They just are not very supportive of small business,” she said.

One example of her difficulty with the city occurred when she decided to start selling hotdogs at a small coffee shop she operated next to her furniture store.

“We put a banner out advertising that we were now selling hot dogs and several days later Brian Duncan (city code enforcement officer) comes charging into the store telling us we have to take the sign down,” she said.

However, Duncan said he never came to the store and only talked to Jaffe on the phone.

According to city sign code, a business can have eight temporary sign permits a year, and each can be displayed for 10 days. Duncan said the hot dog sign was up for 30 days.

Yet Jaffe said the city did not give her proper notice of the need to remove the sign. She added that apparently the city had been sending her e-mails warning about the removal of the banner, but they were going to the wrong address.

Jaffe said Duncan filed charges against her business for the improper display of a sign, and she had to spend $2,500 in legal fees to get the issue resolved.

“After spending that money, I was constantly playing catch up,” she said. “This city is running small business out.”

“I see them allowing the bigger name stores to use all kinds of banners and signs; I guess it is just a matter of being part of the select few,” Jaffe said.

However, Jaffe said the city isn’t the only reason for the closing of her storefront.

“The market is really slow right now, and most of the work I am doing is in interior design,” she said.

To help clear out her remaining inventory, all merchandise in the store will be progressively discounted as the week continues.

Once the week ends, Jaffe said she will move into a small office above her current location and maintain her interior design business.

Store Details:

Name: Marilen’s Imports
Address: 19395 N. John Wayne Parkway
Phone: 520-494-7300

Staff photo