Beloved Family-Owned Business In Redondo Beach Closes After 19 Years

REDONDO BEACH, CA — After almost 20 years, a local business lovingly cultivated by a mother and her daughter she named the store after — Amber's Cove — is closing its doors in Riviera Village for good.

Owner Linda Dufresne said the farewell is bittersweet — she raised her daughter with the store which opened in 2004 when Amber was just three years old. Dufresne said the memories she has made in the store over the years are what she will miss the most.

"My daughter was three when I opened this store and I named it after her. She's now 22 and helping me out here," Dufresne said. "So it's bittersweet for her too you know, she's losing her namesake."

The sign alerting the community of Amber's Cove's closure officially went up last Saturday, but Dufresne said she let the store's neighbors and the village know first. The word has spread through frequent customers who told Dufresne they were sad to see the store go.

While Dufresne said many factors led to Amber's Cove having to close up shop, she said the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic took a huge toll on the business, with debt piling on making it hard for everything to continue.

"Honestly, we haven't come back from [COVID] yet. We're still trying to catch up on COVID debt," Dufresne said. "Closing up for those months just you know, put us in a bad way."

Dufresne has been a part of the Riviera Village her whole life, she said, because before her store opened she helped her parents tend to their own business in the area. Her family ran Gino's Bakery for 43 years before Dufresne also had to help them close down.

The process of closing down her own shop brought back sad memories, as Dufresne said she couldn't help but connect the two.

Despite the bittersweet ending, Dufresne said she is glad to have met and created relationships with the people who visited the store. She said she will miss the people who would faithfully come to visit her just to chat without buying anything. Lots of those customers know her well and even ask about her dog Jazzi who was known to help decorate around the store.

"I've always said this is a little magical store this building. And people just come in to vent and visit. I love that part of it," Dufresne said. "It's very bittersweet. I shed a lot of tears, but I feel like I'm doing the right thing."

Though the physical store is closing, Amber's Cove will still be available online selling gifts, beach souvenirs and home decor. Anything that the store is not selling online is on sale at 50 percent off until the store officially closes in April or May.