Downtown’s progress claims two standbys – Headgear and Candy-Rama
HANGING UP THEIR HATS
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Andy Starnes / Post-Gazette
Charles Lee, owner of The Headgear, takes a hat down from the wall at his store.One has satisfied the sweet tooth of nearly two generations of Pittsburghers. The other has peddled Stetsons, fedoras and a host of other hats from the same Fifth Avenue location for nearly a century.
And both soon will join Gimbels, Joseph Horne, the Jenkins Arcade and countless others that have been lost to the tide of change or redevelopment.
Candy-Rama, a Downtown institution that has served up treats for more than five decades, will close its last little nook at Fifth Avenue and McMasters Way on Nov. 15. The Headgear store next door plans to relocate elsewhere Downtown, ending 84 years of hat sales at the same location.
The city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has ordered those two stores and Kenny’s Nail Design in the same block to vacate their premises to clear the way for the conversion of the G.C. Murphy store and their buildings into apartments and fitness and retail space.
Rather than relocate, Candy-Rama will close for good, ending a 55-year run Downtown that at one point featured locations on Fifth, Wood Street and Liberty Avenue and a Strip District warehouse.
The store has operated out of its cramped corner crevice on Fifth, one stuffed with chocolates, confections and sweet smells, since the Jenkins Arcade closed in 1983. It has served as Candy-Rama’s lone location since mid-January, when a Liberty Avenue store closed. The Wood Street store closed in 2002.
Owner Debbie Tedesco said the store was facing rents upwards of $3,500 a month to stay Downtown. That was too expensive, particularly with the growing competition from Wal-Mart and other stores for candy shoppers. Candy-Rama currently pays $675 a month in rent.
“We’re disappointed that it didn’t work out,” she said.
Since word leaked out that the store would close, regulars have been dropping by to take photos with employees and to enjoy the last few weeks of the store’s life. Some have shed tears, said Sherri Schrader, who has been the store manager for the last 15 years.
She said she was upset about the closing.
“I feel like it’s mine. I open, I close. I’m going to miss all the steady customers who come and visit us every day,” she said. “We call this the living room in here because the same people every day just come and stop by and see us.”
One of those regulars, Cathy Niederberger, has been visiting Candy-Rama since she was a child. She has carried on the tradition with her own son. She said she was disappointed to see the store go.
“It’s sad. It really is sad. It’s part of a bygone era,” she said. “We’re going to miss it. It’s a great quick stop and the employees are friendly.”
Ms. Niederberger, a PNC employee, said the redevelopment of Downtown, which includes the Murphy’s conversion and the construction of the Three PNC Plaza skyscraper, was both exciting and overdue.
But at the same time “it would be great if the URA could figure out a way to incorporate some of these landmark institutions that have stuck around during Downtown’s tough times and give them an opportunity for some affordable space in some of the new developments,” she said.
At The Headgear store next door, owners Charles and Yung Lee said they plan to relocate elsewhere Downtown. But that does not mean Mr. Lee is happy about it.
“I have a feeling like someone cut my neck off,” he said.
Part of the reason Mr. Lee is upset is that he understands and appreciates the long history of hat sales at the location. Before Mr. Lee arrived 12 years ago, the Tucker & Tucker hat store occupied the same storefront for 72 years.
He said some of his customers remember their fathers, grandfathers or even great-grandfathers stopping at the store. With the relocation, a “Pittsburgh tradition will be wiped out.”
“I have a very empty feeling in my heart,” he said.
The store is stacked from floor to ceiling with just about every style of hat imaginable, from Stetsons and fedoras to ball caps and knit caps. Some hats can go as high as $1,000. Mr. Lee said customers have come from all over the world.
“We collect the best hats in the world,” he said proudly.
Mr. Lee said the URA had offered to temporarily relocate him to another of its properties Downtown, but he declined because he didn’t want to move twice. He and his wife are now searching for another location Downtown.
He originally was told to vacate the store by today, but now may be able to stay until the end of the year. He hopes to remain for the holiday shopping season. Mr. Lee said he tried to buy the building about 10 years ago but was turned down by the city, which was assembling properties Downtown for redevelopment.
Kenny’s Nail Design next to the hat store is planning to relocate to Forbes Avenue. Owner Tony Nguyen said he will be at the Fifth Avenue location for another three weeks before making the move.
Officials for the URA and Millcraft Industries, the Washington County firm undertaking the redevelopment of the Murphy building, could not be reached for comment.
The city planning commission yesterday approved Millcraft’s plans to convert the Murphy store, the Candy-Rama and Headgear buildings and another structure into 46 apartments and street-level retail shops. The Downtown YMCA also will move into the new building.
Millcraft hopes to start the $33 million construction by the end of the year and have it completed by mid-December 2008
