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A 113-year-old Thunder Bay family-owned store is closing

The Brent Park Store, which opened in 1909, will close its doors later this year.
Brent Park store
(TBNewswatch file photo)

THUNDER BAY — A store that has served the community since 1909 will soon shut its doors.

Brent Park Store, at High Street and Van Norman Street, will close on November 12.

Current owner Paul Trevisanutto purchased the business from the Willmann family in 2014.

He calls the decision to close a difficult one.

In February 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the store moved from its original Brent Street location to its current one, which has a larger footprint and better exposure.

"We made the move just as the pandemic was shutting down business, and although we were able to serve more customers in the new location, it simply wasn't enough to continue," Trevisanutto said.

He added that inflation and supply chain issues have made things more difficult over the past year, with many of the specialty products preferred by customers becoming increasingly hard to bring in.

"On behalf of my family and staff, we'd like to thank all our loyal customers for their patronage."

In the coming weeks, the store will sell off all its remaining inventory as well as fixtures and supplies.

— TBNewswatch