This morning Wynde Dyer of Golden Rule posted a disheartening status update: She'd just returned from vacation to find, among other things, that her dog had been attacked, and she also mentioned that her "business is closing soon." Likewise, the shop's page says that, "our last few weeks are upon us." I have a message out to Dyer to confirm all this, but if it's true, what a huge bummer. Golden Rule is/was more than a store. The official line is that it's "a social experiment in creativity and commerce." Built on the inventory of Dyer's late mother, the store has grown increasingly collaborative within the community through art projects, consignment, monthly clothing swap parties, and even dance therapy sessions. Just this past weekend they participated in the first-ever Mississippi Flea. In an article published soon after the shop's opening last year, I wrote:

A post on Golden Rule's website reads, "On March 15, 2010, Morena Threse Faust, our mother, was found dead in her Hanford, California, home. She was 56. The cause of death was acute alcohol overdose complicated by dilated cardiomyopathy. In other words, she had an enlarged heart from long-term chronic stress and she drank herself to death." Dyer inherited, with her mother's passing, "a lot of debt, a 17-foot U-Haul of Victorian through early-'90s clothing, and a unique business plan." A lifelong collector (okay, hoarder), Faust's collection of clothing is given new life at Golden Rule after Dyer decided she didn't want to simply wholesale it off to Japan, and the store (the word "store" being a little inadequate) is both in tribute and therapeutic. Photos of Faust line the drawers and tables of the space, showing a tiny blonde beauty (don't worry, she collected all sizes) naked on a bed save for a bold necklace and a pile of cash, or with an ocelot she kept as a pet.

Hopefully all this means is a change of venue for the shop/project, but the outlook isn't great. More info when I have it.