"About all I have left is china and glass," she said.

Pickle opened The Loft in 1956, shortly after she and her husband, Hollis, moved to the San Jose area. In 1961, she purchased the property at Lincoln Avenue and Pedro Street where the store still sits. Pickle plans to hold onto the land after she retires, to the dismay of at least one Realtor who recently offered her cash for the property.

"He's still waiting," Pickle said slyly.

After closing the store, Pickle planned to pack up her remaining merchandise and haul it to Gustine, where her eldest daughter, Virginia, was set to open an antiques store of her own.

"She's never had a shop and wants to try. Maybe she'll do better than I did," Pickle said.

Virginia is 75, which Pickle acknowledged is "kind of old to start a business." On the other hand, Pickle said, "I would have liked to have been here for a few more years. I'd have liked to have worked 'til I'm 100. I really hate to give up the store, but I know I should."

Pickle is holding onto her house in Willow Glen, preferring to keep her second residence in Gustine, near Los Banos, as her "retirement home." Since her husband died 11 years ago, Pickle has opened her shop for only the first half of each month, then spent the second half of the month in Gustine with her daughter.

The Oklahoma native said Willow Glen is "one of the nicest places I've lived in," and her customers reflect that. In all her years in business, she doesn't recall ever receiving a bad check.

"I had a guy who loaded up and left without paying, but that's the only one I've ever had," she said.

Before going into the antiques business, Pickle worked as a civil servant for 23 years. She met her husband while employed by the World War II draft board, but despite making a love connection, she said, "I decided I didn't like office work."

So Pickle went into business for herself, turning her love of Victorian furniture, French china and fine art glass into an occupation. She said it wasn't always easy to find the pieces she wanted for her store.

"Anything I could make money on, I bought," Pickle adds. "I had my hands full, because I was doing it by myself. I took lots of time trying to find things. Packing it in my station wagon and putting it up in the store kept me pretty busy."

Pickle admitted to keeping some favorite pieces for herself, including a collection of pickle casters in cranberry-colored glass.

"Usually, if I didn't want to give something up, I took it to my house," she said. "It's decorated only in antiques."