Longtime Wichita store is leaving for Santa Fe

Though Sandbar Trading has been in Wichita since 2000, the store with southwest and American Indian items always has looked like it belongs in New Mexico.

Now, that’s where it’s moving.

By June, Richard and Julie Gottsponer plan to open at 839 Paseo de Peralta in the Harvey Center in Santa Fe.

That’s where a friend has had a gallery, and on a visit there, the Gottsponers learned he was leaving.

“We happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Richard Gottsponer said.

He grew up in New Mexico, and he said he and his wife love hiking and fly fishing, so it’s kind of a lifestyle move for them even though they’ve enjoyed Wichita.

“This wasn’t home, but we adopted it and loved Wichita,” Gottsponer said.

The two had shows here before a store. They continue to travel for shows nationally, and Santa Fe has been their biggest market for a couple of years.

With the move, the Gottsponers will focus on the sale of silver and turquoise jewelry, handwoven Navajo rugs, Pueblo pottery and fine art.

They’ve sold other items through the years as well and probably will begin liquidating merchandise over the holidays. The Santa Fe store will be smaller, so they can’t take everything with them.

The current Sandbar Trading is at 8625 E. 37th St. North in the Cornerstone Business Park, but for years it was a fixture along East Douglas in Old Town.

The store will close this spring, probably around March.

The Gottsponers hope Wichitans will visit Sandbar Trading in Santa Fe.

“Everybody likes to go to the mountains in the summer,” Richard Gottsponer said.

He said at least half of the store’s customers already travel to Santa Fe at least once a year.

“We very much hope that they continue to be our customers.”