Computer Store, Too
Brooks To Open Doors April 4

Customers walking into the new Brooks Pharmacy in Randolph, set to open April 4, might think they’re walking into a brand new building.

The Main Street building, formerly a grocery store with a notoriously leaky roof, is in the final stages of a total makeover, company representatives said this week.

With most of the construction nearly complete, tractor-trailer units bearing Brooks Pharmacy logos started delivering merchandise this week to the store, still hidden under a plywood construction wrapper. The existing Randolph store, on the corner of Merchants Row and Main Street, will close when the new store opens.

General contractor John Connor, of Connor Contracting, Inc. of Berlin and St. Albans, said this week that his firm has had crews of four-to-six workers on site since the P&C shut its doors in October. The only parts of the 10,000-square-foot building remaining, he said, are the four exterior walls and the concrete slab on which they rest.

The day after P&C closed, workers tore up the parking lot. New drainage systems and an underground propane tank were installed before the lot was repaved, Connor said.

Since late November, crews have been working inside, their efforts hidden by the plywood shell erected over the building.

The makeover gives the building a new roof, including framing and insulation, new electrical and mechanical systems, and an "entirely new façade." Some exterior painting will be completed later in the spring.

Brooks Pharmacy, which leases the property from a Rutland-based real estate company, is footing the renovation bill.

Howard Nobleman, director of acquisitions and real estate development for Brooks, declined this week to say just how much the project cost.

"Say ‘Substantial—a substantial amount of money,’" he suggested. Brooks will almost double its space when it relocates to the new store from its 5500-square-foot store on Depot Square. The new store will open April 4 without fanfare, Nobleman indicated.

Although the current site will close with the move, Brooks will pay two rents through September, when its lease for the Merchant Row site expires. Building owner David Hauke of Burlington said this week that he continues to seek a tenant for the ground-floor of the building. The Hauke family, which has owned the property for about 20 years, rebuilt the store after it was destroyed in a 1991 fire.

Contrary to rumor, Century 21 Mill Stone Agency does not plan to move from its second-floor offices to the ground-floor space when Brooks vacates, business owner Ted Elzey has reported.

Brooks, founded in Canada in 1967, operates 330 stores in the U.S. and 255 in Canada.

Started and still operated by the Coutu family, the firm is a publicly traded corporation in Canada, while the U.S operation remains a privately-owned subsidiary of the parent company.

Computer Store

While the Brooks move will create a new Merchants Row vacancy, a now-vacant storefront on the street will have a new tenant shortly.

Jeremy Lesniak of Vermont Computing said this week that he plans to relocate his business to Merchants Row, with a goal of opening in mid- to late-April.

Lesniak, with four or five years of computer consulting experience, has been operating Vermont Computing out of his Randolph Avenue apartment for the past 18 months. The business offers computer repair, consulting and training services, as well as web-design and networking services for PCs. Customers included both business and individual computer users, he said.

Business had grown to the point that it was time to add an employee or two and keep regular storefront hours, Lesniak explained. He will sell computer parts at the new store with an eventual goal of selling entire systems.

Working out of home had been feasible, until now, because his niche has been providing on-site services, Lesniak noted. That service will continue, with the added benefit of a "one-stop-shopping" storefront that will be open at least five days a week.

Lesniak, who wanted to keep his business based in Randolph, said he was pleased the Merchants Row storefront, most recently a consignment shop, had become available.

Other Possibilities

Jeremy Ingpen, director of the Randolph Area Community Development Corp., said this week that he remains confident that other vacancies, including the brick depot that until recently housed the King & I shop, will find tenants.

"I’ve had four or five inquiries for the revolving loan fund for different business ideas, some involve the King & I space, and one the Brooks space," he noted.

Ingpen declined to identify any of the ideas or aspirants, as all ideas were in the "very preliminary stage." He noted, however, that the inquiries came both from existing business and new entrepreneurs.

Ingpen is not worried, yet, about the vacancies. He noted that Randolph has a very low vacancy rate, compared to places like Barre and Hardwick, which have had "five to 10 long-term vacancies on Main Street."

Ingpen defines a six-month vacancy as a short-term vacancy, given the time it takes to negotiate leases, secure loans, and the like.

"We can start getting upset (if vacancies continue) after a year," he commented.

"The nice thing," Ingpen added, "is that there are people out there with the guts and desire to set up something new or to expand what they’ve got."

By Sandy Cooch