COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ A flag retailer in Columbus plans to stop selling the Confederate flag after 35 years of offering it in the store.

Lori Leavitt Watson of The Flag Lady's Flag Store tells The Columbus Dispatch that the retailer decided to discontinue selling the divisive symbol after getting dozens of orders for it this week amid the renewed controversy.

National retailers pulled Confederate flags from shelves and websites after the shooting deaths of nine black church members in South Carolina last week. The shooting suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, appeared in photos holding the flag.

Watson says the flags had been sold alongside other historical banners. Typically, the store sold between four and seven Confederate flags a year to such customers as school children and Civil War re-enactors.