Don’t Let Avi Gandhi See This!: Secret Flash Mob Planned to Celebrate Store Owner

A surprise flash mob is planned for Saturday, June 21 to celebrate and send-off Avi Gandhi, owner of the Center Lane Stationery Store.

Gandhi, who is shutting down his store this year after 10 years, has long been a fixture in Levittown and is well-loved by members of the community.

“Avi is more than a guy behind a register who punches in lotto numbers,” said longtime friend Celeste Hamilton Dennis. “He occupied a role behind the counter nothing short of good friend, and sometimes even therapist. I saw men and women linger longer in the store because they wanted to spend time with him. They told him about their lives. He made them feel like they mattered.”

The plan is for as many people to gather as possible at the Center Lane Village Green at 11 a.m. armed with “a few bucks and a smile.”

“We’ll go into his store one-by-one and buy an item,” said Hamilton Dennis, the major organizer behind the event. “It can be as small as a pencil or as big as a poster. One thing, or as many as you want. The idea is to jam pack his store, help him clear off his shelves so he can go out in style, and then have a small celebration outside with some heroes we’ll buy from Fred’s Deli.”

The surprise mob will be filmed and posted to the Internet as a mini-documentary about Avi and his long history in Levittown. “We hope others in small towns will see this video and be inspired by us to do something similar where they live.”

How to Get Involved: Spread the word to friends, family, and anyone else who’s willing to show up and have fun for a good cause. The goal is to get 100-200 people to turn out. For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.