The Rochester Sentinel report
Baileys' Hardware, a fixture of downtown Rochester since 1917, is on the way out, owner Mike Abbott said Wednesday.
Abbott, 53, who bought the store, 712-14 Main St., in June 2006 from brothers Dave and Bob Bailey, said his supplier told him in January that the store isn't generating enough business, so he is being cut off. He has been unable to find a new supplier.
Abbott plans to stay in the fishing tackle and bait business, perhaps at the same location, perhaps somewhere else. Also, his Hoosier Sprocket electric motor scooter business will remain. Again, he's not sure exactly where. Hoosier Sprocket sells TNT e-scooters, which travel up to 45 miles on an electrical charge. That business has been good, he said.
Not so with hardware. "It's like my wife died," he said. "I wake up every night wondering where I'm going to be."
He plans to sell existing inventory, but not to have a big sale. "I don't know what I'm going to do with the building," he said.
Abbott said parking is part of the problem. He asked the City Council for help in keeping parking spaces near his business open last summer. The council has yet to take definitive action. Said Abbott: "People are just lazy. They'll walk 20 miles at Walmart, but they won't walk a block in downtown."
©2024 The Sentinel Corporation