POCATELLO — After nearly 20 years in business, including six years in her current location operating as Sierra’s Crafts, Emma Gebo announced she is closing her craft-based retail operation.

As part of the closing, Sierra’s, located at 4150 Yellowstone Avenue, will be holding a “Huge Store Closing” sale, beginning Thursday morning at 9 a.m. To prepare for the sale, the store closed its doors last Friday and will re-open on Thursday.

Gebo is a former Idaho State University professor and chair for the Department of Home Economics and Vocational Teacher Education who retired from the university in 1993. That was the same year she opened Ben Franklin Crafts at 1580 Yellowstone Avenue, changing the name three years later to Crafts and Frames.

In 2006, Gebo moved her retail operation to its current location, changing the name to Sierra’s Crafts. In a release sent out last week, Gebo said she has opted to close the business rather than renew her lease for multiple years.

Gebo, along with her husband, Dave Gebo, once operated multiple retail operations in Pocatello, including Super Save Drug, ACE Hardward and Outdoor Sports, 5 & Dime, Super Save Highland Pharmacy and Crafts and Frames. At one time the employed more than 200 people in the combined operations, making them one of Pocatello’s top 20 employers, according to the release.

Gebo did not specify in the release how long the closing sale would last or when the store would officially close its doors.