By Krystle S. Morey
After about six months of negotiations, Scotties’ has been sold – and to a local couple.
Mark and Edie Pickard of Granville sealed the deal last Friday to purchase the Main Street restaurant that’s been closed since last November.
“I’m still in shock … did it finally, really happen?” Edie Pickard asked with excitement.
“…the work is just getting started,” Mark Pickard added with a smile.
The Pickards want to preserve the atmosphere of the former Scotties’ – something similar to Cheers, the 1980s bar “where everybody knows your name.”
“It’s a staple in the community,” Mark Pickard said.
The bar and booths in the diner are going to stay the same. New menu items including fried bologna sandwiches, sausage peppers and onions, salads and wraps, will help spice up the dining experience.
“Nowadays, a lot of people are looking for wraps more than a sandwich,” Edie Pickard said. Customers can order any sandwich on any roll, bagel, English muffin or wrap, she said.
One of the first things the Pickards did after the purchase was update the restaurant’s point of sale system. The new system will streamline the ordering process.
“When the server comes over, she’ll write down your order … and then they will go over to a screen and punch it in, and it’ll print all of the way over to the cook,” Edie Pickard said.
The front of the store, instead of being a gift shop, will be converted into a convenience store. The store will be similar to Stewart’s and Cumberland Farms, carrying food, drinks and auto maintenance items.
“There are a lot of people who want that in this area, because they walk,” Edie Pickard said. “It’s more convenient for them to come over here versus walking all of the way down to Cumberland Farms or Price Chopper.”
This is the couple’s first endeavor running a restaurant or food-service business, but they’re confident they’ll succeed. Edie has worked in the retail and restaurant business for several years. Mark has worked in retail and runs his own business locally, Mark Pickard Motors, rewinding industrial electric motors.
“A lot of people have backed us and been right behind us,” Edie Pickard said.
Robert Tressler, real estate broker/owner at Heritage Manor Realty in Hebron, has been working with the Pickards since late January to seal the deal. Various financing and survey hurdles held up the process a bit, Edie Pickard said, mentioning the state Business Development Corporation as one.
“A lot of people thought we would give up because it took so long,” Edie Pickard said. “It took us a while, but good things come to those who wait.”
“Good things come to those who wait” – that’s precisely the advice Pickard’s mother, Peggy Wilcox, gave her growing up and throughout the months-long sale.
Wilcox worked as a waitress at the diner under its original owner, Angelo Scott of Granville.
Scotties’ was put up for sale in November 2015 after owner Tom Scott, Angelo’s son, abruptly closed the doors on Oct. 5. Employees were given no advance notice, just a phone call from Scott, informing them that he was closing the 84-year-old business “for good.”
Pickard says she is working with Wilcox to get her up to New York from her residence in Florida for the grand re-opening of Scotties’, which should be just before Labor Day.
The Pickards are just waiting on the state Health Department to issue a permit and complete a pre-op inspection before they can open.
They’ll keep the name “Scotties’.”
“It’s a tradition,” Mark Pickard said of the 84-year-old business. “It’s part of Granville.”
“All of the summer people who come up, they know Scotties’,” he added. “If you change the name, it’s just not the same.”
Other work that’s still ahead includes getting the wall of beverage coolers fixed, tweaking a few other small issues and hiring a few more employees.
In the future, the Pickards want to install a bathroom upstairs to make it more accessible for customers of all ages. Currently, the only bathroom on the premise is in the basement and is only accessible via the stairs.
Chef Tracy Cook will return to the staff. The couple is still looking for additional cooks and servers.
“We are looking for good personalities … smile and have fun,” Edie Pickard said. “We want our customers, when they walk through that door, to hear us laughing and enjoying our job.”