Enhancing downtown has become Bentleyville’s business
Della Faryna knows the “Bentworth” landscape well. She has lived in Ellsworth for 41 years and owned Fox’s Pizza Den in neighboring Bentleyville for the past 25.
Working near her ovens doesn’t warm her as much as the business transformation that is transpiring near and around her shop, especially during a global pandemic.
“We’re getting on the map finally, and I think it’s wonderful,” she said excitedly. “We’re in a perfect area, right off the highway (Interstate 70), and getting more and more businesses.”
And perhaps more will be on the way.
Bentleyville, estimated population of 2,500, has struggled business-wise in recent years. The business district, once vibrant, had lost some of its luster. But it is regaining that shine in an era in which retail is suffering.
Since January, at least five businesses – a restaurant, bakery, two stores and a pet-care shop – have either relocated in the borough, opened there or are on the verge of opening. This is a bona fide revival on the Mon Valley’s outskirts that has potential to grow.
And, yes, it is unfolding at a time of masking and social distancing.
Carlton Diner and Wild Buffalo Trading Co. helped to spark the surge, moving to Main Street early this year. They were neighbors in Somerset Township, off the Kammerer exit of I-70, that were forced out by a wrecking ball. The owners – Joe Mendola and spouses Jennifer and Matt Cario – reopened the diner, a longtime attraction, in January inside the building that housed the Boomtown Grill, which shuttered a year earlier. Another couple, owners Lorie and Ron Shinsky, moved their Western flair boutique less than a month later.
Discover Pet Health LLC Poochtique and Spaw, also on Main Street, had its grand opening six weeks ago. The focus inside is on “ruff” times, not rough times.
A bakery, Nana’s Sweets and Treats, launched just weeks ago. Jenny Taylor, the congenial sole owner, had a simple motivation behind her first business venture.
“I had done a lot of baking for friends and family and decided to open this business,” she said.
She likewise is pleased by the uptick of the Main Street corridor.
“We all encourage each other,” Taylor said. “We need to build Bentleyville back up. Columbus took a chance. Why not us?”
Owner Mark Giovanelli has not opened Valley Hardware, but is preparing to do so within a few weeks.
“We plan to be a full-blown hardware store, with lumber and different things outside,” the Deemston resident said. “It will be a one-stop shop for people in the community.”
For 85 years, the building into which the hardware store is moving was a one-stop grocery. Valley Hardware is taking over the space previously occupied by Jet’s Food Center, which opened in 1930 and operated until September 2015.
That structure has sat idle for nearly five years, but the new owner said “a whole lot of renovation was not necessary. We’ve had to do a lot of cleaning, but the shelves are in, which is huge for us. The building is very well maintained.”
Giovanelli, who owns three other businesses, said this is his first retail venture. He is pleased with the climate he is entering.
“I think this is incredible,” he said of the revival. “People in Bentleyville welcome these new businesses.”
Tim Marodi, owner and supervisor of Thompson-Marodi Funeral Home in the borough – also on Main – said an auto repair garage plans to open in the former Brown’s service station.
Marodi, a local resident for 29 years, is gratified by this burst in new business.
“This is great news for Bentleyville,” he said. “I’ve been hearing that a lot of people are excited and I am too. Bentleyville is a good location, off of I-70, 20 minutes from Washington and 15 minutes from Belle Vernon.
“This is needed because we had five empty stores for the past three or four years, maybe longer. Hopefully, this will bring in more businesses, but there are not a lot of storefronts available.”
For a quarter-century, cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms have been Della Faryna’s professional specialties. She has enjoyed working in Bentleyville and is gratified by what is happening downtown. It is not a pie-in-the-sky fantasy, but real.
“We were at a standstill for awhile,” she said. “But now it’s booming. Great things are happening and I hope they continue.”
If so, Faryna will not be directly involved. She and her husband, Frank, are retiring. Della has sold Fox’s “to a nice couple who are keeping our crew. This has been in the works for the past year or so.”
There are grandchildren to watch, including a baby, and leisure to pursue.
She will pass through Bentleyville often enough to keep tabs, and to monitor a retail landscape undergoing positive change at a most challenging time.