‘I had fun doing this’

Jen Kainz (left) and her mother, Linda Fultz, turned their Summit Place business in downtown Tracy into a success that has spanned 19 years. The Summit Place era, however will soon come to an end, as the family has decided to close up shop and open the door for a new business to start up at the downtown location.

Linda Fultz says she will miss the social interaction that came with running Summit Place

By Per Peterson

In need of a new and better home for their dance studio, the Dennis and Linda Fultz family didn’t have to look far. And what they ended up getting turned into a downtown businesses that has lasted for nearly two decades.
“When we bought this (current Summit Place building), it was completely empty,” said Linda Fultz, who has run Summit Place in downtown Tracy since 1998. “We figured out how much room they needed, and that’s how we did the dance studio.”
The move turned out to be a win-win-win — for Linda, her daughter, Jen Kainz, and the community of Tracy — but time has a way of bringing good things to an end, and Linda, a cancer survivor at the age of 70, knows it’s time to step away. Soon, Summit Place will be no more and a new business will occupy the downtown building.
“It’s because she’s 70, and she needs to rest — it’s a fact,” Kainz said, explaining the closing of the store.
Summit Place’s “retirement sale” begins today and runs through at least Labor Day. The Fultzes are looking at the event as a way to clear the shelves and say good-bye to their customers.
“I had fun doing this,” Linda said. “I had fun seeing people come in — maybe not everyone bought something, but it was the idea there was people to talk to. I love having people around — that’s going to be the hardest part of closing.”

For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.