HONESDALE -- A store in downtown Honesdale that's been around since the 1950's is closing within a month's time.
The Weniger family has run the variety store on Main Street for all those years.
It has been a place where folks could get the paper, a friendly hello at the counter and for kids: penny candy.
But now, so much has changed for Don Weniger and his family owned business, he has decided to close the store for good next month.
"I've been thinking about it for the last several years, the last few years have been tough. The economy hasn't been great," he said Weniger.
Weniger has kept the store open while competition from chain stores has mounted taking away customers. Jack Bishop has been shopping at Weniger's for years and said it was nice to say he knows the owners of the store where he does business.
"That's the neat thing about this store, it will be missed, we've been coming here for years," said Bishop.
Longtime employee Marisa Hiller gets choked up talking about the closing.
"That they'll never find a store like this again, we get to know their names, we get to know their families," said Hiller.
Over generations, newspaper sales, magazine sales, and office supplies were some of the biggest part of business at Weniger Variety Store in Honesdale. The owner said over time that kind of business has faded away leaving htem without any other option than to close.
"I'm an old-fashioned guy, I like to see these kind of stores instead of the big box retailers," said neighbor Jim Firmstone.
When the variety store closes its doors, Firmstone said a part of Honesdale's past will go with it.
"The little novelty news store was where people shopped. This is where they got their newspaper, cigarettes, candy," said Firmstone. "I'm going to miss it, miss the family."
Weniger's owner is not sure what if anything will take its place in Honesdale.