Cockadoodle Pizza has purchased the historic Brick Store on Main Street in Bethel and will move its restaurant operation there this spring.(Herald / Tim Calabro)

On Monday, Feb. 15 an icon of recent Bethel Main Street history closed its doors.

The Brick Store, owned Mary and Bill Floyd, will be sold to Jim and Nell Fisher, the owners of the Cockadoodle Pizza Café, a couple of buildings down the street.

They hope to move the Cockadoodle business to the Brick Store building during the first week of May. It will remain open at its current location until then.

The Floyds opened the store in 1991, purchasing it from John and Beverly Washburn. Bev and her mother, Margaret Mills, had run their store there since 1968. When the Floyds first bought the store, Mary was still teaching elementary school in Bethel. She said she was interested in changing careers.

“I knew I wasn’t going to teach forever.” Mary said, “I thought it would be fun to be in the middle of town.”

Over the years, the Floyds have sold a wide variety of products, including clothing, knitting supplies, ice cream, greeting cards, and more. Mary and Bill had their own sub-specialties in the business. Bill ran the Vermont Castings dealership out of the store for six years, and also provided supplies and information for home brewing. Upstairs, Mary ran The Specialty Shop, which sold handcrafted products created by local artists. Recently, Mary has sold vintage and collectible items such as linens, china, and old books.

The Brick Store is well known for its old-fashioned soda fountain. Mary says that up until closing, she was still selling ice cream, but the carbonation machine on the soda fountain was broken. The soda fountain originally came from Clifford’s Drug Store, owned by the Mills. The drug store had been operated in two different locations, the first in a building located where Bond Auto is now. That structure burned in the 1930’s. The drug store and soda fountain then relocated to a spot in the old Bethel Inn across the street and next to the town hall. That building was destroyed by fire in 1980.

The Brick Store building was constructed in 1878 and originally housed a clothing store called Brooks and Washburn. Reminders of the former department store business can still be found on the walls and shelves. There were early 20^th-century shoe and shirt collar boxes, as well as shoebox grabbers and shoetrees. There were also antique scales, adding machines, and old gum display racks.

Mary said that owning the store was an interesting experience.

“It’s a nostalgia trip for people who come in here,” she said, noting that customers come in and discuss the history of Bethel and the families who lived here.

Mary said they had wanted to sell the building for a while and the building had been closed for a year not long ago. She said that she had several offers before the Fishers approached her, but they often had plans of changing the use of the building, such as making apartments. She wanted to keep it a commercial venue.

“The building is in good condition,” Mary noted. “There’s a full basement, a main floor, and an upstairs. All totaled, there is 14,000 square feet.”

Jim and Nell Fisher first looked into buying The Brick Store this past September. Jim said he and Nell wanted to be building owners, rather than just renters. In May 2007 they bought the Cockadoodle Café from Kevin Barry, who had opened the restaurant in 2006.

Jim said that their main goal before moving to the new location is to get all the proper permits in order and to set up the restaurant on the main floor.

He says that the basement will probably be used for storage and he isn’t sure just yet what the second story will be used for.

“It is a beautiful building,” he commented. “I think that it will be a good fit for us.”