Jenifer’s Shelter Island Journal: Gifted
When I asked Mary Lou Eichhorn, proprietor of the iconic Island gift shop, Cornucopia, for an interview this week, I knew it wouldn’t be her first rodeo — hardly.
As she recalls, over the past four and a half decades this paper alone has given her at least two full profiles, not including the coverage attending her being named the 2022 Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year. Other profiles may have covered Mary Lou’s background, her early years, but I was particularly interested in this, her second act,her “Cornucopia” period.
In the late 70’s, Mary Lou Grossman, a widowed real estate broker from Albertson, sold a house to another real estate broker from Franklin Square, named Jordan Eichhorn. What he really was sold on, apparently, was Mary Lou Grossman, because, by the time he was ready to move into his new house he had himself a new bride .
A great second-act love story, very romantic, except a year later, he had a heart attack. Fortunately, he survived, and in 1980 found him and his lovely wife motoring out to the East End on a little day trip. Years ago, his kids had attended Camp Quinipet, so he knew something of Shelter Island, but Mary Lou didn’t …let her tell you.
“We got off the ferry, and I said, ‘I think we’re meant to live here,’ but Jordan said, ‘I don’t think so — I just had a heart attack!’ And I said, ‘Well then, this looks like a nice, peaceful place for you — we’ll take it day by day.’ We stayed at The Pridwin and, being in real estate, I said we should look at houses. Jordan goes, ‘Houses? Well, I don’t know … but I trust you, I love you, I married you, let’s do it!’ We started looking the next day. By the day after that we had a binder on the one we liked best. ‘When we got back to our [up-island] house, I said, “Look, if this is meant to be, we’ll sell this house quickly,’ We sold it in a week. Meant to be. One day, not long after we’d moved into our Island house, we went to the deli and noticed that there were two empty stores where Analy’s is now. Back at the deli, we ate our sandwiches and mentioned those empty stores to Mike Zavatto. He said, ‘I’m pretty picky on who I rent to.’ Well, he rented to us. Later, Jordan asked what kind of store was I thinking of having. ‘Anything but a crafts store,’ he said, ‘because with all your yarn and sewing and knitting, and—’ ‘How about a gifts shop?’ I said. I figured we had a fairly large family and knew a lot about gifts, from babies to weddings. We asked the family what they thought a good name would be. In the end, it was my son-in-law who thought of it: Cornucopia.”
After the first four-and-a-half years, the couple needed more space, so they moved the shop to the house on the corner of West Neck and Menantic, now a bed and breakfast. “That was a beautiful shop,” recalls Mary Lou. At first, they’d kept the shop open three or four days a week, but,“when the House of Glass closed,” Mary Lou says, ”we realized that we were the only gift shop in town. We had to stay open every day, year round.” And that’s continued to be the case, seven days a week. Because Mary Lou is also a Notary Public, as an essential worker, she had to stay open even during the pandemic.
The owner of the “house on the corner” eventually sold it, and the couple had to find a new space. The shop has been in its present location for close to 30 years. Jordan passed away 23 years ago, but he lives not only in Mary Lou’s memory, but in the shop itself, somehow, still a part of the decision they made so many years ago.
While tourists were important, their main allegiance would be to the Islanders, not only as their customers, but often as the authors and artisans whose works they proudly display, true now more than ever.
Mary Lou is a gift, yes, in her staunch support for, and the service she provides to, the Island she so fiercely loves. But she’s also gifted, a woman who, on the surface seems so ladylike and circumspect, but is a risk-taker, strong, determined, and trusting in her instincts.
She’s taken chances that have defined her life in a wonderful way. Like the lovely shop she and her husband created, she has a gift for living.
