All I Saw, set to exit Wasilla on April 30 after 39 years in business

WASILLA — A landmark store in Wasilla, whose origins go back 39 years, is quietly making its exit. All I Saw Cookware – and its sister store, Mimi’s Closet – is closing. And with it goes a piece of Wasilla’s past.

If you’re not in the habit of shopping local, you may have missed this gem: specializing in high-quality bakeware, French, English, and American cookware, and fine chocolates, coffees, and teas, All I Saw has been named Best in the Valley seven times. If you like to grind your own nutmeg or try unusual sauces, All I Saw is your store. But soon it will be no more.

Its history is peppered with some well-known names. In 1978, Linda Menard, whose husband Curtis was then Wasilla’s only dentist, opened a high-end cookware store in Wasilla called Design Center. In its first location, the shop shared a strip mall with the consignment store The Mouse House on Swanson Avenue. Later, she moved it to the Land Company Building in the Carrs Mall. Though Wasilla and environs at that time had only about 4,000 residents, Linda’s business was successful. She added specialty boutique items, such as soaps and lotions, to her inventory.

In 1981, she sold the business to Harold and June DeArmoun. The DeArmouns, homesteaders in South Anchorage since 1948, owned a bookstore with their daughter Meta called All I Saw Books. (“All I Saw” is “Wasilla” spelled backwards.) They sold the bookstore but retained the name, changing Design Center to All I Saw Cookware.

They purchased a vacant lot at the corner of Yenlo Street and Herning Avenue from the Cottle family. In 1984, the DeArmouns built Meta Rose Square, naming it after both of their mothers. They wanted a building that would enhance the town. Their plan featured several shops opening onto one large entrance hall. Howard Nugent was the contractor.

June DeArmoun thought that some toys might be fun for children weary of shopping. Coin-operated rides – a galloping horse, a train engine for two, and a three-child merry-go-round – soon filled the hall. A huge gumball machine also vied for parents’ quarters.

Howard Nugent’s carpenter was engaged to construct a mini, two-story house. Carrie’s Playhouse, painted pink, was tucked in a nook to the right of All I Saw’s entrance. The store’s mascot, a larger-than-life fiberglass chef, was special-ordered by Harold DeArmoun. It stood vigil nearby.

The iconic clock tower was not original to Meta Rose Square. It was added several years later, when new construction in town blocked the building from view. The clock tower made the Square - and All I Saw Cookware - easy to find.

The current owner, Susan Nyberg, entered the picture in 1991, when she answered a Help Wanted sign posted on the candy counter. The part-time work helped Susan stay busy while her husband, David, who was retired after 20 years’ service in the Army, worked on the North Slope.

Susan enjoyed All I Saw Cookware so much that, in 1997, she and David bought it. They began selling April Cornell table linens and rapidly expanded to bedding and nightgowns. The line did so well that she opened a second storefront, just across the hall and in view of the fiberglass Chef, in October 2004. Susan named it Mimi’s Closet, because her grandchildren call her Mimi.

Both stores have carried on the DeArmoun’s standard: upscale establishments selling the highest quality local, American, and imported merchandise. The employees, over 100 women over the years, always wore a dress or skirt, another DeArmoun tradition.

Since 2013, All I Saw Cookware and Mimi’s Closet have been located in City Center on Knik Goose Bay Road. But the years under the Clock Tower were their heyday: when the Nybergs shopped twice yearly at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and the 6100 Building in Seattle, seeking the best and latest items for their clients.

At All I Saw, one could purchase Italian stoneware or China (Spode, Royal Dalton, Noritake); silver tea sets and silver flatware; teas and linens from all over the world; weathervanes, made in Vermont, and birch bowls, made in Alaska; unusual copper molds and Wusthof knives. Wind chimes helped fill the vertical space and sounded, Susan recalls, “like church bells.”

Our family will miss the chocolates and candies my husband always purchased as stocking stuffers. And I’m probably not the only local who bought my daughters lace-edged cotton nightgowns every few years. The Nybergs watched our girls, and many other Valley children, grow up.

“We are going to miss our customers,” Susan says.

She has “mixed emotions” with All I Saw (she calls it her “first love”) and Mimi’s Closet (her “baby”) coming to an end. “It’s hard to see them go away,” Susan reflects. But she and David are looking forward to having time for each other.

On April 30, unless the shelves empty sooner, the Nybergs will close the doors for the last time. Stop by with a handshake, a hug, and a “Thank You;” let’s wish them both very well.