LONGMEADOW – Longtime resident and business owner Cliff Feen, 85, is closing his store Esscentials to retire for the second and final time.

He first opened Esscentials, a niche fragrance and beauty supply shop at 811 Williams St., 16 years ago after ending his first retirement.

Feen told Reminder Publications he’s been in his niche trade for 65 years. His first business, Thrifty Cut Rate Cosmetics, opened its doors in downtown Springfield in the 1950s. The original location was centered near the corner of Bridge and Main Streets in Springfield.

“That store was very successful that I opened downtown and then a location became available opposite Steiger’s on Main Street and then I ended up there with a nice size job,” he added. “It was so good for my business that I knocked a wall out when the jewelry store next store went out of business and we were doing great.”

He said he was born and raised in New Haven, CT, and became interested in the line of business because his father was involved in it. Feen’s father owned and operated a Thrifty Cut Rate in the former Winchester Square, now Mason Square, in Springfield.  

Feen noted he changed the name of his store to Thrifty Cosmetics in the 1960s around the same time the store moved into the former Baystate West Mall, where Tower Square now resides. The store closed in 1995, when Feen decide to retire the first time.

“My kids have been after me to really retire this time,” he noted.

Feen said what’s kept him in the business for more than six decades is the love he has for it.

“I have a sense that since the retirement has been announced of the love that the customers have for me,” he added. “It almost brings me to tears. Of course, they’re in tears because I’ve developed a niche market business where I have stuff no one else has.”

Feen said he carries niche products such as hard to find fragrances for men and women.

“I have fragrances that no one else has,” he explained. “I have fragrances the department stores don’t have. That’s been one of my niches over the years. I love my soaps. I have soaps from all over the world and skin care [products] that other people don’t know about … I have unique merchandise like Mason Pearson hairbrushes from England. They’re handmade ... They’re heirloom products. They go from mother to daughter to daughter. In other words, they’re the world’s best hairbrushes. Nobody else carries them.”

He added he plans to close the store sometime in mid-May and is currently having a retirement sale.

Feen said since the announcement of his plans to close the store, he’s had hundreds of customers with “unbelievable” crowds.

“Let me tell you, going out of business is a big boom to business,” he noted.

Feen said he plans to go boating this summer after he retires. He also hopes to do more woodworking in his spare time.

“I’m a big Mr. Fix-It kind of guy,” he noted.

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