Bradford, Vt.
After being bought by the regional fuel provider Osterman Propane in 2015, the service center and liquor store had closed, leaving residents to wonder what would fill the hole in their downtown — and at what price.
“I think it’ll go for a buck fifty,” William Desmond, a Corinth resident who owns online radio station WEMF Radio in Boston, said as onlookers milled around beforehand.
One hundred fifty thousand dollars would be a song for a lot assessed at $570,000, but as it turned out, Desmond wasn’t far off.
At 11 a.m., auctioneer Eric Nathan informed the crowd that the properties, 175 and 207 Main Street, comprising a 3-story brick building, 2-story clapboard store, gas pump and garage, were to be sold as one lot.
“I do recognize that this is an iconic property that until recently was owned by a well respected community member,” Nathan said before he started the bidding. “This is important.”
Nathan kicked things off at $300,000, but couldn’t find a raised hand until $80,000.
As the price rose past $100,000, the auction became a two-man contest between Desmond, who goes by “Des,” and Stacey Thomson, a timber, trucking and excavation business owner from Orford.
The numbers climbed. Desmond, clearly the more reluctant bidder, put thought into each new sum — $110,000, $120,000 — whereas Thomson each time raised his hand almost immediately.
“It’s a steal,” a woman standing behind Desmond said, prompting him as he mulled over the figure of $130,000.
A minute later, at $139,000, Desmond raised a phone to his ear.
“I got to get permission from my old lady,” he said.
“Never bring your wife to an auction,” Nathan said.
Desmond’s call never got through, and the lot went to Thomson for $139,000.
Afterward, Thomson declined to say what he might do with the properties, but mentioned that it might become clearer in the next six months.
“I don’t have any comment on what the plans may be for now,” he said.
As for the reason he had bought it, Thomson said, “It was a good piece of property at a good price.”
The Orford businessman said he was in the market for property. Last week, he had made plans to bid at the auction of the West Lebanon building that houses Shyrl’s Diner, where he is a frequent customer, but ended up not doing so.
Although the auction in Bradford left uncertain what will happen to a prime piece of Main Street real estate, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, for one, was optimistic.
“We’re looking forward to the sale of the property to someone local who’s going to be more invested in the community,” she said.
A state representative from Bradford, Copeland Hanzas also owns The Local Buzz, a nearby coffee shop. She said after the auction that the loss of Perry’s and the customers it brought downtown had been a drag on other businesses there.
David Perry, the third generation of Perrys to manage the family business, said Osterman Propane had decided to sell the property in order to consolidate the heating business with other holdings it owns nearby.
A representative for Osterman, human resources manager Richard Donnell, later confirmed that the company was consolidating but didn’t offer further comments.
Until recently, Perry had run the appliance store that remained onsite, but now said he planned to retire.
“I really hate seeing the store shut down, because it meant a lot to the people in town,” he said, adding that he might have tried to keep it open “if I was 10 years younger.”
The laundromat Suds Your Duds continues to operate at the back of 207 Main St., but the closing of a couple of businesses in the buildings follows other shutterings in downtown Bradford.
Around Labor Day in 2015, the owners of Hill’s 5 & 10, a five-and-dime store founded in 1959, closed their doors, citing increased competition from chain stores such as Family Dollar and lingering effects from the recession.
Erik Volk, executive director of the Cohase Chamber of Commerce, which serves several area towns, also cited the influence of online shopping and large chain retailers.
“Probably it’s more related to the internet shopping and to some of the larger retailers like the Home Depot, and so forth,” he said in a telephone interview the same afternoon. “It’s increasingly hard for retail to compete, especially if those products can be found elsewhere.”
All the same, Volk noted that Bradford and other downtown business areas — such as Woodsville — were bouncing back to a certain degree.
Although he wasn’t sure the deal was final yet, Volk said he had heard a restaurant may be moving into the former five-and-dime space.
Another Bradford office property soon would become a cooperative workspace, he said.
“I think it’s certainly going to leave a hole in the downtown, which everybody’s concerned about,” he said, “but certainly the Cohase Chamber and the Bradford Business Association is looking to assist however they can.”
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.
Correction
The laundromat Suds Your Duds continues to operate at 207 Main St. in Bradford, Vt., in the building that once housed the state liquor outlet. A reference to the status of the laundromat was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.