Markus, center, Dee and Christopher announced in a Facebook live video today that Leather Masters is closing.

In an announcement live-streamed about an hour ago on Facebook, the owners of Leather Masters, which had been planning a move from Deep Ellum to East Northwest Highway near the border between Dallas and Garland, announced that the business is closing permanently due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

“We’ve done everything in our power to survive as long as we could. … We’ve been trying to do every thing we could for everyone out there with our masks. Unfortunately, we fell victim to this situation,” owner Markus said in the video, as he sat at at table, flanked by his wife, Dee, on his right, and co-owner Christopher Edwards to his left.

Markus said they are putting Leather Masters up for sale, and that they will be holding a clearance/liquidation sale beginning Monday, both online and in the storefront He said they will be working over the weekend to put proper safety precautions in place before allowing people into the storefront, and visitors will be required to wear masks. The storefront will be open from 2-8 p.m. Monday.

Leather Masters has “31 years of history” and tradition behind it, and “we have done our best to carry [those traditions] on. But the situation got the best of us.”

The Leather Masters announcement comes less than an hour after owner Lonzie Hershner announced on Facebook that his bar Zippers would not be reopening.

— Tammye Nash