After three decades of business, the Trading Post post office is closing its doors for good on May 27.

Considered by many a community staple, owner Peggy Cox said the decision to shut down instead of relocate wasn’t easy.

“We’re choosing to close the business, it’s our choice,” she said. “It’s not affordable to have a small business in the Kirkland area because the rents are way too high.”

Four generations of her family have run the store since it was started by her mother, Fran Garner, in the mid-1980s. Since then, she and her brother, her daughter and grandkids have all worked in the private post office.

For some of her customers, Cox said, the news of their closure is hard to take. One elderly customer needed to take a seat in the store.

And these are the customers who Cox said are taking the news the hardest, older customers who have frequented the store for decades and relied on its convenient location next to EvergreenHealth and Trader Joe’s.

The Trading Post operates PO boxes, ships and receives mail and sells postage supplies.

But despite the imminent closure, Cox said she’s grateful for all the Post’s customers over the years.

“We just want to say thank you,” she said. “They’ve been really good customers, kind and polite, and we’ve really enjoyed watching their families grow up too.”

The Trading Post is offering sales on their inventory until May 27.