Talk a walk down Columbia Street and you'll see a gaping hole.

The vast double storefronts between President and Carroll streets, which for so long showcased lamps, armchairs and desks in the front windows, are now empty. Instead, giant, fluorescent liquidation signs line the windows.

The closing of Sokol Bros. Furniture Co. marks the end of an era on Columbia Street. John Heyer II called it an "original Columbia Street establishment from its heyday."

We stopped by Sokol Thursday afternoon, and the entire shop was cleared out. The only things that remained were a couple of mattresses, a large, ornate mirror, a ceiling fan, a table and some trash. The owner, Michael Sokol, wasn't there, and so we left wondering why the shop had closed. Could it the shifting preferences of the neighborhood? The windows on the second and third floor of the building in which Sokol has resided since 1950 are all boarded up. Did Sokol sell the property?

Behind Old Doors columnist Sylvie Morgan Flatow stopped by and found Sokol and his wife at the store. They told Flatow it was time to retire. They'd just had enough, she said.

"He did all the moving and packing up by himself (very Sokol of him)," said Flatow.

The subject of Flatow's first Behind Old Doors column? Sokol Bros.

In it, she called the furniture store an "old neighborhood gem."

Grandma was right. That Michael Sokol is a very nice man. He is by no means a flashy man, but neither is his store. Instead, he is one of the nicest storekeepers in the neighborhood. He dresses comfortably in blue jeans and sweaters, sneakers and old sweatshirts.

Flatow remembers Sokol Bros. fondly.

"I’m sorry it took me as long as it did to walk into Sokol’s for the first time. As soon as I did, though, I knew there was a story to be told. A place like that houses not just furniture, but a whole lot of nostalgia, too," she said. "Long-time business owners, such as Michael Sokol, have spent countless years servicing our community, witnessing the neighborhood's changes, but keeping an open mind, never once closing their doors."

But now, the old doors really are closed.