This might be the last Christmas for Arrow Ace Hardwarein Rochester's Miracle Mile Shopping Center.
Owner Dave Neimansays a closing sale will start soon for the 16,000-square-foot store with a final closing scheduled for Jan. 14. He has operated a store there since 2003, when he purchased an existing Hardware Hankstore in Miracle Mile.
Now 13 years later, the store has to close. The south end of the mall, where it is located, is slated to be demolished to make way for the proposed new Miracle Marketgrocery and apartment complex development.
"Nobody will lose a job," said Neiman of his staff at the store. "Everybody has been assured there will be no job loss."
He plans to transfer the 12 or so employees at Miracle Mile to his three other Rochester locations at Crossroads Shopping Center, Silver Lake Shopping Centerand a stand-alone store on 37th Street Northwest.
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Neiman says the next step after closing is to start looking for a new spot in that Kutzky Park neighborhood.
"The landlord has given us a good opportunity to move into the north end of the existing Miracle Mile. We've done our analysis and have brought experts to help us out and we've concluded for now that we are just closing that store. I want to look for a different location in that neighborhood," he said.
Neiman added that Javon Bea,the Miracle Mile landlord, had treated them well and made a good offer of a new location. However, the prospect of running a store in the Miracle Market construction zone didn't seem like the right choice at this point.
"It may be that as construction progresses, that we may end up back in Miracle Mile," he said
The goal is to line up a new 11,000- to 13,000-square-foot location in that area by the summer of 2017.
Biz buzz
Funny story … Despite closing earlier this year, a version of Rochester's comedy club may be coming back.
Goonie's Comedy Club,at 7 Second St. SW, closed in July. However, there was some talk at the time of partnering with another venue to bring the comedy shows back to Rochester.
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Plans for that might be underway. A Rochester bar and grill filed building permits with the city last week to build a stage. On the permits, the bar's name was followed by "Goonie's West."
The general manager of the bar acknowledged Friday that something is in the works, but he couldn't confirm anything.
The punchline is that I hope to round up more details on this project soon.
