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Owner of iconic Arlington Heights store dies at 99

Vern Hagenbring, the former owner of an iconic Arlington Heights store that helped anchor the village's downtown for 75 years, has died.

Hagenbring's general store opened at the corner of Campbell Street and Vail Avenue in 1922 and served the community until 1998, when Hagenbring sold the building to be developed as the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.

Hagenbring, 99, died Friday.

"My father always felt that (Hagenbring's) was one thing that was still unique to Arlington Heights, and he was quite proud of that," said his daughter, Starr Hagenbring, who helped run the family business with her sister, Melodee Russo, as their parents aged.

The Metropolis building still bears the "Hagenbring Building" keystone above its Vail Street entrance as a tribute to the longtime family-owned landmark.

Vern Hagenbring's father, Henry Hagenbring, opened his first general store in 1918 in Des Plaines, before constructing the three-story building in Arlington Heights. According to his granddaughter, it originally housed four separate stores and six apartments above.

Vern Hagenbring reportedly joined the family business in 1938, at the age of 21 for $11 a week - with room and board. When he married his wife, Trudy, in 1940, the business continued to evolve.

At one time the store sold wholesale candy in one section, with another section set aside for yarn goods. Another side of the store, Starr Hagenbring recalls, housed the stationery and housewares departments.

"As my mother's involvement grew, the store began offering more dry goods," she said. "They opened up the basement area to sell toys and children's clothing on the Vail Street side. The store just grew as the needs of the community dictated."

It became tradition to clear out the Vail Street side of the building during the holiday season to offer unique decorations, often handcrafted in Germany and Sweden. The area became the setting for Santa, where a generation of children - between the 1950s until 1971 - came to visit the jolly old elf, played by Hagenbring.

"My father took the role very seriously," his daughter said. "He had a special suit made of red wool and trimmed in white rabbit fur. Even his beard and wig were authentic, made of yak hair, which he sent out to be rewoven each year."

After selling the building in 1998, Hagenbring retired to his home in North Barrington, but didn't lose his love of Christmas. Within two years of retirement, he began to fashion an elaborate holiday display in his yard.

Using plastic PVC pipe and other plumbing supplies, he first made a 32-foot-long train layout, before adding 10 more features, including a church, elf house, toy store, schoolhouse and candy factory, all 12 feet high. He also designed mailboxes for letters to Santa, which he and his daughter dutifully answered for years.

"We put everything up again this year, and the mailboxes are in place," Starr Hagenbring said. "My father would have wanted it that way."

Hagenbring was preceded in death by his wife, Trudy. Besides his daughters Starr and Melodee, he is survived by another daughter, Kristi, as well as two grandsons and two great-grandsons.

Visitation will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. with a memorial service at 7 p.m., all today, at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.

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