CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — It appears there will still be a Fox’s Pizza Den in Clarion after all.
According to Fox’s Pizza Den’s Corporate office in Murrysville, Pa., while the Greenville Pike Fox’s will close at the end of the month, a new Fox’s Pizza will most likely open on Main Street in the old Orpheum Theater building at 511 Main Street.
“We are actually moving the store,” Jim Fox Jr. of Fox’s Pizza said. “It will be under different ownership. We have already purchased the building. But we probably won’t be able to open the new store for a couple of months.”
According to Fox Jr., current Fox’s Pizza Den owner Paula Stettler was given the opportunity to continue owning the Clarion store.
“She had first shot at it,” Fox Jr. said. “At first, she was going to and then she wasn’t going to. That’s no problem on our end. There are no hard feelings from us or anything.”
Fox Jr. said two of the main reasons the store location needed moved was because of the condition of the building on Greenville Pike in addition to government guidelines that the products on the stores all have to be made the same way.
“We are going through a refit phase with the company overall,” Fox Jr. said. “Because of government guidelines, all of the products have to be made the same way. A lot of the equipment in Clarion was from 20 or 30 years ago. In addition, we had to move the location because part of the building in Clarion (where the current Fox’s is located) is collapsing.”
Fox Jr. said renovations are happening throughout the company.
“Our stores have five-year franchise agreements,” Fox Jr. said. “We are going through them as the five-year contract expires. Because of the different government mandates, there are different factors for us. If we don’t get the stores to comply (with the mandates), it comes back on us.”
Fox Jr. said keeping a location in Clarion is important to the company.
“We have had a store in town forever,” Fox Jr. said. “Probably one of our first 20 stores was in Clarion.”
According to Fox Jr., as far as he knows no other local Fox’s Pizzas are closing, and, in fact, the company is opening a Fox’s in New Bethlehem.
“We just got the building permits approved last week,” Fox Jr. said. “We will probably get construction underway in two weeks and will probably be able to open the store in about two months.”
The New Bethlehem location will be located at 300 Broad Street.
Since the Orpheum Theatre closed, many businesses have gone through the building, including at one point a buffet-style pizza joint called Sparky’s Pizza Buffet. The building last housed the Ecoasis Salon & Wellness Studio.
