Aubuchon closes after 51 years
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Aubuchon Hardware has closed its Rutland store on West Street after 51 years in the area. ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: September 2, 2009
After opening its West Street doors for business Tuesday morning, Aubuchon Hardware quickly and quietly shuttered them again midmorning, to the surprise of neighboring businesses and passersby.
And if the brown paper that employees hurriedly taped up inside to cover the glass storefront wasn't enough of a sign of the downtown landmark's departure, the notice on the glass doors confirmed it: "With much regret, we announce the closing of this store location," it read.
Daniel Aubuchon, vice president of retail and distribution center operations, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that after 51 years on West Street, the last few of which were marked by a substantial drop-off in business, the company decided to close the store.
"It was basically (a decision based on) sales," Aubuchon said from the company's Westminster, Mass., headquarters. "There's not really much else to talk about other than sales."
Since 2001, the store had lost about 50 percent of its total sales volume, due largely to the number of shoppers who flow along Route 7 instead of venturing downtown, Aubuchon said.
The shift compelled the company to start searching for an alternate location in Rutland about four years ago, he said.
"We just haven't been able to find the right price at the right location," Aubuchon said. "We were never able to put the kind of store that we like in (the West Street) location."
He did, however, leave open the possibility Tuesday that the company could return to the city in a new home. If at all possible, they'd like to, Aubuchon said.
"If we can find a deal or a piece of land where we can put up our own store, we'd be very happy to come back," he said. "We've certainly enjoyed the Rutland area and the state of Vermont. … We're constantly playing checkers with stores, trying to clean up the low-volume locations."
Mayor Christopher Louras said he began speaking a year ago with a former manager of the Rutland store, who is now a district manager in the company, about their desire to relocate.
"I've offered them any assistance my office can render," he said. "I have been working and will continue to work with their management to find a suitable location so they can re-enter the marketplace in the city. It's very important to the city that Aubuchon Hardware has a presence here."
Other recent moves the company has made within Vermont show that the ideal location is often one with high visibility and where Aubuchon owns its own building or can build a store to its specifications.
Aubuchon gave up its store in Bennington about two years ago. The company still owns the plaza where the store was located and the former hardware store's space is still for rent.
In Manchester, Aubuchon relocated in the spring to a site it owns after renting a store for many years. The company's had "tremendous success" with its new Manchester location on highly trafficked Route 11, Aubuchon said.
In Rutland, the company has been a tenant-at-will at 122 West St. for the past few months, an arrangement that made the decision to close the Rutland store all the easier, Aubuchon said.
The store employed about eight people — two full-time and six part-time — all of whom will be relocated to surrounding stores such as Fair Haven, Brandon or Manchester if they're willing to travel, Aubuchon said.
Mark Foley Sr., CEO of Pistols and Roses, owns The Gryphon Building at the corner of West Street and Merchants Row, where the store was located. He did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.
However, other longtime presences downtown said they were saddened to learn of another downtown business's closure.
"They've been good neighbors," said James McNeil, co-owner of McNeil and Reedy on Merchants Row, which predates Aubuchon Hardware in downtown Rutland by two years. "We welcomed them when they came to downtown and now it's sad to see them go."
"I just can't imagine them not being here," said Martha Zullo at the Sandwich Shoppe.
Aubuchon Hardware first opened downtown on Nov. 20, 1958, as a two-floor store, with the street-level once occupied by a company-run toy store, Aubuchon said. As the store celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, the company marked the 100th birthday of its beginnings in Fitchburg, Mass.
The company operates 126 stores in six states, including 25 in Vermont, and soon will open a new location in New York, which Aubuchon wouldn't name, where much of Rutland's leftover stock is being shipped.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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