Another longtime retailer in Modesto’s McHenry Village is closing. ‘An era has to end’
A 42-year-old children’s boutique in Modesto’s McHenry Village shopping center will close this year following the announcement of its owner’s retirement.
Ragamuffin, at 1700 McHenry Ave., Suite 24, will have a “farewell sale” beginning Friday. It will be closed Thursday to prepare.
Kathie McBroom, Ragamuffin owner for more than 13 years, said it was an “extremely difficult decision” to retire and close the store. But with increasing online shopping options, keeping the doors open isn’t feasible.
“People aren’t shopping locally as much anymore,” McBroom said. “One of my workers that’s been here for 10 years wanted to take over, but the numbers just didn’t make sense. So, just can’t continue on.”
McBroom was an employee at Ragamuffin for a decade beginning in 1989. That was five years after the brand — launched as a catalog business — became a brick-and-mortar shop.
She took over the lease around 2011 when founders-owners Maggie Zeff and Susan Conway retired.
“It’s definitely bittersweet because I have a lot of years invested in here, even prior to owning it,” McBroom said. “It’s sad that an era has to end.”
Ragamuffin was founded in 1982. It was a way for Zeff and Conway — schoolteachers, neighbors and friends — to market the clothing they designed while spending more time at home with their children.
The pair had sewn items for their children for years before they started the business, and for the first two years, they were appliqueing sweatshirts and embroidering overalls by hand. The mail-order firm was at that time called Ragamuffin Whimsical Designs.
In 1984, Zeff and Conway opened a retail outlet at McHenry and Morris avenues. They relocated to McHenry Village in 1988.
The focus then shifted from hand-embellished items to specialty styles by small designers.
In 1994, Ragamuffin was gutted in a fire that destroyed 10 businesses in McHenry Village. Then-Modesto Fire Capt. Bob Avers said the fire was intentionally set by someone who doused several areas in a rear storeroom in Ragamuffin.
“That was a ghastly year,” Conway told The Bee in 2001. “But it had a silver lining — business was better than ever when we reopened.”
And business remained good until a couple of years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, McBroom said. Sales were nonexistent during the COVID closures, but when the shop reopened, the first two years were “really good” again, she said.
“This year in particular has just been awful,” McBroom said.
There is no set closing date, but the sale will continue until inventory is gone. The store will close when that happens or at the end of December.
Ragamuffin is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit ragamuffinboutique.com.
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