Familiar faces passed through the doors of the James R. Evans
Store for what could be the last time Monday, marking the first day
of the store’s closing sale.

“My customers have been very nice to me over the years,” said
John “Jack” Shatara, owner of the James R. Evans Store at 80 Main
St. “A lot of them have come in this morning to tell me they are
sorry to see me go. I just tell them it’s all a part of the
process.

“Most of my business was loyal customers,” Shatara said of his
47 years working at the store, which he has owned since 1984.

Shatara explained Sunday evening that business had been dropping
off for the past 15 years.

“One of the biggest factors is the population,” Shatara
explained. “When I graduated from Bradford High School, there were
314 in my class. Now it is down to around 200.

“When the population of the school goes down, you know the
population of the town is going down,” he said.

An advertisement for the closing sale appeared in Monday’s
edition of The Era. Shatara said he plans to close the store by the
end of October.

The store, originally named Evans and Ginnane, opened on April
3, 1903. The store became the James R. Evans Clothing Co. after
Evans bought out his partner’s share.

“(The) James R. Evans (Store) was a member and supporter of the
Chamber for a long time,” said Diane Sheeley, executive director of
the Bradford Chamber of Commerce, on Monday.

“My husband and I have made purchases at that store, and now we
will patronize another Main Street store to keep the business
local,” Sheeley explained.

“We all have the ability to make a difference,” she said,
advocating shopping in Bradford.

Main Street Manager Diane DeWalt added that regrets to see the
longtime downtown staple go, but is hopeful something else will
come along.

“It is my understanding he sold the building a couple of years
ago,” DeWalt said. “At that time he had planned to try to sell the
business.

“Apparel stores are tough to do in a small town on a Main
Street. There weren’t any buyers,” DeWalt said.

“It’s always tough when a business that has been continuously
operating for all those years is gone,” she said, “but something
new will come in to take its place.

“I’m sure there will be more businesses that will decide they
want a store front downtown,” DeWalt said.

“We do have several new businesses. There is one that has moved
into the store where Gigi’s was, and that didn’t close that long
ago,” DeWalt explained.

Gigi Ladies Fashion Boutique, formerly of 86 Main St., closed
this spring. Store owner Theresa Bond told The Era in February that
a lack of foot traffic was one reason for her closing.

Bond also said that “local people don’t shop downtown. They make
money in Bradford, but they don’t spend it in Bradford.”

DeWalt is optimistic that a new business will move into the
soon-to-be-vacant store front.

“Now that we know the property is available, we can start
working on finding a business to occupy it,” DeWalt said. “I really
don’t think that it will be sitting empty very long.”