Yellowknife (Aug 18/06) - John Alexander said it's been a good run, but after today, his popular "roadside attraction - John A's Paleo Emporium - is closing its doors.

The "paleo enthusiast" said he can no longer afford to keep his fossil and dinosaur exhibit open and not have any rent-paying customers using the Old Town building he owns.

"Paleo enthusiast" John Alexander says its time to pack away his beloved to Paleo Emporium, and rent the space out. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

"It was a two-year display that ran into three," said Alexander, of the emporium which first opened its doors in November, 2002.

"Our original business plan was, 'how much money would we lose each month?"

He never charged an actual admission fee, but rather asked for donations.

Nonetheless, Alexander promises "the phoenix will rise again" in one form or another.

For the time being, however, Alexander will be cataloguing and packing away some 500 fossils he's collected over the years, plus thousands of posters, toy dinosaurs, books, and other memorabilia he has on display.

He plans to build a special shed to store all the stuff.

Alexander, who has taken part in three fossil digs with the famed Tyrell dinosaur museum in Drumheller, Alta., gathered most of his collection through fossil and lapidary stores over the years.

His fossils range from dinosaur eggs from Mongolia to ancient marine fossils from the Mackenzie Valley.

Over the last three years, Alexander said visitors have filled two guestbooks.

"I think conservatively I put a thousand kids through here," said Alexander.

"Every grandparent who visited their grandkids up here came through this place."

Alexander gave special thanks to the Salvation Army thrift store and the St. Patrick parish flea market, where keen eyes alerted him every time a cool dinosaur toy or puzzle turned up that might prove useful for his collection. He also thanked his wife Barbara for putting up with his incessant packratting of all things fossilized.

One thing is for sure, even though Alexander's collection is large enough to fill a small warehouse, he said he will never stop collecting.

"This will never stop," he vowed.