Jim Russell will miss Bellevue.

From his neighbors at Monsoon East to his regular costumers, it’ll be hard to leave behind his storefront on Main Street. Russell’s business, Ming’s Asian Gallery, has been a staple here for the last 25 years.

Now, he’s consolidating his business at his other location in Seattle’s International District. He’ll close his doors in Bellevue for the last time on Oct. 15.

“My son thinks I need to kick back a bit and relax,” said Russell, who typically spends seven days a week running Ming’s Seattle and Bellevue locations. “We had one lady who came in crying, and a number of people come in and say how much they’re going to miss us.”

But Ming’s won’t be moving far; less than 20 minutes away in the old Seattle Uwajimaya building.

Russell hopes the Eastside corporations, institutions and private individuals that have come to rely on him for eclectic, Asian antiquities will follow his business to its new home.

Walking through Ming’s two floors in Bellevue is like walking through a colorful, mini-museum filled with antiquities as old as 5,000 years: ancient Buddha statues, wood block paintings, Chinese snuff boxes and kimonos from the 1930s to name a few. And, while Seahawks stars, Microsoft executives, and even one of the Rolling Stones, have been customers here, some people don’t even come in to buy – they come to marvel at the artifacts from ancient periods and dynasties.

While Ming’s has been in its Bellevue location for 25 years, its roots are deeper than that.

Russell and his wife originally had a small shop in the mid-’70s inside of Seattle Union Station. The couple moved to Issaquah in 1980, where they still live, and set up shop on Front Street. Finally, the business was relocated to Bellevue’s Main Street in the late ’80s.

At first, the couple sold western antiquities before falling in love with Asian design and artifacts in visits to Taiwan, Hong Hong and Mainland China.

“Let’s stop Europe. Stop American. Let’s just do Asia,” said Russell, explaining their feelings at the time.

For the couple, the business is more of a passion than work. Making four to five trips to Asia a year, they hand-select antiquities from East Asia, as well as India and the Philippines.

Ming’s had a series of exhibitions and lectures representing the arts of China, Korea, Japan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Mongolia, and Tibet, collaborating with the City of Bellevue, the library, arts museum and Portland Art Museum’s “Tombs of China,” to name a few.

Russell will eventually leave the business up to his adult children, and let them take it from there. Ming’s final move, is exciting yet bittersweet, he said.

“I’ll miss saying Ming’s on Main.”