Former Fan Clothing owner James Leonard announced last month the decision to shutter Fan Clothing and sell off its merchandise and fixtures, but there's a twist in the works.

The reason for the closure, atypical of Haight Street retail closings, wasn't due to a rent hike, he said, but for him to spend more time with his growing family and to focus on the family's other brand, Ducks In A Row, a San Francisco-based, vintage-inspired women's clothing shop.

But as you may have noticed, the Fan Clothing storefront, at 1510 Haight St., is now boasting new signage to herald the arrival of a brick-and-mortar Ducks In A Row shop in the same space. 

The signs, which originally indicated a warehouse sale, now announce the shop's opening later this spring. So we checked in with James about the future of Ducks In A Row.

"It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks that has ended in some changed plans," he said by email last week. "After we announced the closing of our boutique, we were met with a very strong and supportive response from our customers and saw that we have a very loyal following of our Ducks In A Row brand in the city."

At the eleventh hour of the shop's reversion to the landlord, James said, he and his wife, who were both sorry to see the shop close and loathe to leave it, "tossed around the idea about how fitting it would be to have our first flagship location [for Ducks In A Row] at 1510, right where it all began."

"We were about to hand the keys over to the landlord," he said. "We had a chat with him about the idea and he was on board with it, so we said, 'OK! Let's do it!'"

Leonard said the store is currently undergoing a six-week renovation with plans for a grand opening to debut a new spring collection in April. In the meantime, the front of the store will operate as a small pop-up warehouse sale open only on weekends.

"We are very excited and are looking forward to growing Ducks In A Row in the neighborhood and beyond," Leonard said.