aNeMonE Handmade Paper Flowers, a specialty shop here that sells varieties of paper flowers as well as other locally made gift items, soon will close its doors at River Park Square.

Owners Nathan and Mary Eberle say that on Aug. 31, aNeMonE will close there and move its inventory to its other store, at 309 W. Second, in the SoDo shopping district downtown. The store there is planned to reopen in early September, a few days after the mall spot closes, says Mary Eberle.

The Eberles have operated a store in a 1,000-square-foot space on the second level of River Park Square, next to Nordstrom, for two years. Before that, they rented a kiosk in the mall for a year. They opened the West Second store—which is larger than the mall location—just before the Christmas shopping season late last year, Mary Eberle says.

Earlier this summer, aNeMonE temporarily closed the store on Second when the city resumed construction on that stretch of the street, resulting in dramatically reduced customer traffic there, Eberle says. She adds that she hopes the street project will be completed by the time that store reopens.

Eberle says the decision to operate exclusively out of the Second Avenue store is due to a number of factors, including high lease rates at the downtown mall and competition from big national retailers there that regularly offer sales and discounts.

She estimates the business will be able to cut its overhead costs by about half once the consolidation is complete.

"It's hard to compete with that," Eberle says. "We feel that the other store is a better fit for us; next to other local stores and across the street from the bridal store."

The downsizing from two storefronts to one won't affect the number of people aNeMonE employs, although some of those four employees could see a reduction in hours, she says.