Jul 6, 2007

Adele’s II, and Jerry, to close door for goodBy Brent HopkinsDailyNews.com

Encino – For 32 years, Jerry Hurwitz had his wife, two kids and Adele’s II.

The gift shop at Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue sold personalized mementos to be passed along at Christmas, on Valentine’s Day, at a bar mitzvah. Hurwitz, with his firm handshake and ever-present smile, was the engine that made it run.

The store helped him raise his family, pay for their nice Valley Village home and send the kids to college. In a landscape of chain stores and big-box retailers, Adele’s II was a proud throwback to another era – an era that’s even closer to closing.

After more than three decades in business, Hurwitz is retiring and shuttering the store. By the first week of August, he’ll have cleaned the shelves of the embroidered pillows and hand-painted piggy banks and said goodbye.

“I have no life – I’m in retail,” he used to joke.

Six days a week, 11 hours a day, Hurwitz and his wife, Doris, accommodated the needs of customers. They rarely went on vacation, rarely even left the store.

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