Downtown antiques shop closing after it loses awning
REIDSVILLE — During a visit last week to Settle Street Station, customer Shirley Haney didn’t try to disguise her displeasure to Wayne Strider about the closing of his antiques business.
“Wayne, what you doing leaving us?” she asked.
“Fighting city politics,” Strider replied.
After nearly 14 years in downtown Reidsville, Settle Street Station will close Saturday, and Strider and his wife, Bobbie, blame the city.
It started last October when they say the city wrongly removed an 85-foot awning from their business in the middle of the night. They also say construction of the city’s new Market Square, directly across from Settle Street Station, limited parking and caused them to lose business.
The Striders own the three-building property at 112 Settle St. They say the metal awning was needed to protect their antiques from sunlight.
City officials say the awning had to be removed for a sidewalk improvement project.
In a letter dated Oct. 16, 2008, City Manager Kelly Almond wrote that the awning was “an illegal encroachment” on public property and had to be removed.
“As we have discussed, this is consistent with our action concerning other awnings on public property when a public improvement project was planned and funded,” Almond wrote.
The awning was removed Oct. 27, 2008, according to the Striders.
Almond is out of the office this week and could not be reached for comment. Mayor James Festerman said the awning was removed because its poles were attached to the sidewalk.
“The city acted on legal advice we obtained prior to its removal,” Festerman said Tuesday.
Festerman said the Striders were treated no differently than other business owners. At one time, most of the businesses along South Scales Street had awnings, he said. They were removed in accordance with a streetscape plan the city implemented several years ago, he said.
Those that remain are attached to buildings, not the sidewalk, he said.
Festerman also said the city’s street supervisor, not Almond, made the decision to remove the awning early in the morning so as not to impede traffic during business hours.
Before the awning was taken down, Festerman said he arranged a meeting between Almond and the Striders in the hopes of a compromise. He also said Almond discussed the matter with all Reidsville City Council members. “This decision was not entered into lightly,” he said.
The Striders eventually boarded their windows to protect their merchandise but said the emotional damage from the ordeal was already done. And it may not be over yet. The Striders said they have consulted an attorney about recouping money for damage they said was done to the awning during the removal.
The couple have lost sleep over what has happened, and Bobbie Strider still tears up when talking about it. “It’s just about taken its toll,” she said.
Settle Street Station isn’t just an antiques store.
It’s a gathering spot where longtime customers and fellow merchants stop, shop and chat, and the Striders said they’ve had requests from the community that they reconsider closing.
“We’ve got customers that feel like family,” Bobbie Strider said.
Carol Thompson is one of them. She began shopping at Settle Street seven years ago, buying items such as lamps, treasure boxes and handkerchiefs, and considers the Striders her friends.
“It’s almost as if they’re being pushed out,” she said, “but the community wants them to stay. That’s what’s so sad.”
Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com.
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