Country Store closing after 40 years in Geneva

GENEVA – After 40 years as a fixture in the downtown, The Country Store, at 28 James St., in Geneva, is liquidating the business and selling the building, co-owner Bonnie Dudley said.

“We did a big business in country lighting and country curtains,” Dudley said.

But with the last economic downturn and the loss of manufacturers of their specialty stock – as well as the fact she and her husband, David, are both 71 – it was time to close, said Bonnie Dudley, a Batavia resident.

“It’s mostly a function of age,” she added. “We are retiring. If we could have found a buyer, that would have been fine, but I personally advised against anybody buying it because … all the little country stores are closing, and people are having trouble finding the stuff.”

The Dudleys married in 1975, the same month they started the business, she said.

"We sanded the floors and went and got married," Bonnie Dudley said. "We had a house on Fulton in St. Charles and got married there. We had a preacher friend in, and a couple friends stand up, and we ate at the Fisherman's Inn."

During the economic downturn, Bonnie Dudley said they had to lay off two of their four full-time employees in 2006 and were never able to hire them back.

The Country Store also sold a lot of antiques, and in addition, her husband is selling off his personal collection at the store, she said.

The building dates back to 1857, Bonnie Dudley said, and has beams in the basement that are hand hewn. It is one of the properties owned by George and Charles Patten. The Patten House, at 124 S. Second St., Geneva, which also dates to 1857, is now a restaurant. It had been the home of George Patten.

Once the stock is all sold off, she said they will put the building up for sale.