Iconic Cherokee Trading Post Closing After 73 Years

MT. OLIVE, N.J. – Its spinning circles are iconic, the longstanding billboard a staple in Morris County.

Now, 73 years later, the Cherokee Trading Post will ride off into the sunset.

The Mt. Olive business located at 67 Route 46 announced this week it was time to close up shop.

“It’s just time,” said store manager Rob Tom, whose in-laws, Alan and Barbara Typinski own the business. “We just feel it’s time to move on.”

The Typinskis are retired and have owned the business since 1993, Tom said. The Typinskis bought the Trading Post from the original owners, who started the business a half century earlier.

Known for its old west wares and Native American-styled accessories, the Cherokee Trading Post began as a roadside stand that hung its wares from clotheslines across the street where a strip mall is now located, Tom said.

Before Route 80 was extended out to Pennsylvania, the highway stopped in Mt. Olive and turned into Route 46. Anyone transferring from one roadway to another would pass the store, making it a northern New Jersey treasure.

“Many of our customers span generations,” Tom said. “They’ll bring in their children and tell us they used to come in as kids themselves.”

The closure was announced on April 5, but there’s no set date for when the doors will shut. Tom said the entire store is currently on sale and the owners plan to sell everything off, including the building, which is owned by the Typinskis.

The Cherokee Trading Post is closed on Mondays but open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Photo Courtesy Cherokee Trading Post