RANDOLPH -- Margaret Smith handbags are no longer being made.

The window that once displayed clothing and handbags made by Margaret Smith Inc. will be empty permanently. The business -- a 60-year mainstay of the Randolph business community -- is closing this week.

"It's sad," said Ned Reiner, long-time manager and owner for the past 2 1/2 years. "It's the end of an era. So many other little wonderful businesses are just closing up. Shop owners have to compete with people demanding lower prices."

Reiner bought the business almost three years ago, after it had dropped its clothing line and continued to offer handbags.

"I could not find the niche to make it sustainable," Reiner said. "I'm broke."

He credited local people for their support.

"The shoe places and shirt places have closed. Everyone says they're amazed we've lasted this long."

The company was founded by Margaret Smith -- no relation to the late U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith -- in the 1940s.

"She was a local girl, raised in Rockland and ended up in Gardiner," Reiner said. "A local hobbyist, she made primarily funky beach bags as gifts for friends."

Those friends encouraged her to start a business. She was helped by her brother, Cyrus Pinkham, who was a financier; and Bill Waters, a professional designer, both of New York.

"When Margaret was getting these orders, they would come up on the train on the weekends to help her get caught up," Reiner said.

Then the men quit their jobs to move to Maine and join the firm.

The business was on top of the IGA store when that store was located next to the Gardiner-Randolph bridge.

Reiner said the business moved to the 36 Water St. site in about 1950 and employed 32 to 33 people in its heyday.

Reiner said the handbags were made on site and were moderately priced. Most were floral prints and they were marketed through women's specialty shops, gift shops and sometimes hospital gift shops.

"Maine people always wanted a Margaret Smith handbag," Reiner said. "In the '50s or '60s, they were carried by Bonwit Teller in New York City."

Helene Brann, of Randolph, still has two Margaret Smith handbags in her closet.

"My husband worked for United Shoe, and he would fix their sewing machines and he used to buy me a bag," she said Monday.

A big liquidation sale that started Saturday cleared the shelves of handbags, Reiner said. The store remains open until 4 p.m. each day this week and until 1 p.m. on Friday, selling fabrics and sewing notions.

"The sale response on Saturday was unbelievable," Reiner said. "It's almost as if a hurricane came through and swooped everything out."

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com