By Brad Segall

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) – A fixture in the business community in Doylestown for more than four decades is closing its doors in the next month.

The owner of Herb’s Hobbies and Crafts, Herb Hess Junior, blames the economic downturn and the Internet. He says they can’t compete with the cheaper prices online and declining sales that have plagued the business over the last several years.

What will he miss most? He says it’s the interaction with the customers, many of them regulars.

“I can only call it a mass outpouring of humanity. Without exception the customers have been phenomenal, they’ve thanked us, they’ve shaken our hands; we’ve had customers with tears in their eyes,” says Hess.

His father opened the store in 1972 and over the years they added craft supplies, art supplies and specialty toy lines.

Hess says he’s too young to retire but he’s not sure what he’ll do next. The building has been sold already, but no word yet on the new owner’s plans.