Two downtown Bradford businesses will be going out of business
at the end of the month.
Nickel Paint & Decorating at 10 Kennedy St. and Movie World
at 75 Forman St. announced that they will both be going out of
business on June 30.
Fran Nickel, owner of Nickel Paint & Decorating, said
Thursday that she was looking to sell the business for a while, but
no one expressed interest in buying it. The building is now up for
the sale, but the business will be gone on June 30.
Nickel is looking to retire, and she said currently there is
only one other employee working with her.
“The business has been here for 49 years,” Nickel said. “Mr.
Johnson started it, and we bought it from him 26 years ago and
turned it into Nickel Paint & Decorating. But it’s time for me
to hang it up.”
Diana Church, manager of Movie World, said that store is closing
due to increasing competition.
“We’re getting increasing competition from online stores like
Blockbuster and Netflix,” Church said. “And I think the new store
(Family Video) did us in. I’m sorry to see this place go. I’ve been
here nine and a half years. That’s just the way life goes
sometimes.”
Church said the Bradford store is part of a small corporation
that originally had 17 stores in the system but went down to five
stores. She said with the Bradford store closing, there will now
just be the one store in Salamanca, N.Y.
Church said, including her, there are only six employees still
left at the store.
She added that the large storefront space is rented through a
company out of Brockway, Varishetti & Sons Inc. She supposed
that the company will probably try to fill the space now.
Calls left for Frank Varishetti of Varishetti & Sons Inc.,
who own the Bradford Plaza, were not returned Thursday night.
Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Diane
Sheeley said some of the chain stores coming into the area have had
an impact on the existing smaller and family-owned businesses, such
as Nickel Paint & Decorating and Movie World, who she added,
was not a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
“That family-owned business, (Nickel Paint & Decorating,
owned by) the late Howard and his wife and son Greg, have been
solidly supporting the downtown area and the business district from
the day they started in business,” Sheeley said. When larger chains
move in, “there is a change in the consumers’ purchases from their
family-owned business. But the community still needs to grow and
have choices.”
