Published: June 19, 2009 12:57 am      

MARKET: Newfane gets its market after more than a year

Frank Budwey, who began working in his family’s North Tonawanda grocery store as a bottle boy when he was 10, is celebrating his 60th year by opening a Budwey’s Market Place on Main Street in Newfane.

Residents who attend the grand opening on Sunday won’t recognize the old Shurfine Store, which closed 18 months ago. Frank Budwey bought the building at North Main Street and Edward Avenue for $100,00 and has put $2 million into it, he said.

“It looks great,” Supervisor Tim Horanburg said. “He did more than I expected. He took it down to four walls, basically. It’s new. It’s modern. It fits Newfane. It’s what we really need.”

Residents of neighboring towns have expressed interest in shopping at Budwey’s, according to the supervisor.

Budwey, who is in partnership with Paul and Peter Lamparelli of Buffalo, recognized the cooperation of the town fathers, the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency and the Northwest Savings Bank. “Without this help, we would not be able to have a store in Newfane,” he said.

Customers will think they’re in a new building, and essentially it is. Budwey’s has a new floor, new roof, new checkouts, new counters and a fresh paint job. The outside walls are plum purple, trimmed with beige — just like Budwey’s other stores in Buffalo and North Tonawanda. In about 10 days, there will be an outside pavilion serving hot dogs, hamburgers, roast beef, Italian sausage and corn on the cob.

“It’s a remarkable difference,” Budwey understated. “In the beginning, we weren’t planning to change those check stands. We weren’t planning on doing a new floor. We weren’t planning on ripping all of this equipment out of here. We kept going, going going. It continued to get worse the more we got in here.”

By enclosing the back, the store has grown from 18,000 square feet to 19,000 square feet. In the middle

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Budwey ...

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of the week, Budwey was anxious about the paving in the parking lot, but was confident of the store opening Sunday. The store hours will be 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily.

Budwey has hired 95 employees — 20 full-time and 75 part-time. Most new hires come from Newfane, and 10 seasoned workers come from stores in North Tonawanda and Buffalo. The store has 10 aisles, six checkouts and all the stock is in.

Budwey got a break on power rates, mortgage tax, sales tax and real estate taxes. The store’s assessment will go up 10 percent every year for 10 years from $100,000 to $1 million.

Budwey, born in 1949, grew up in North Tonawanda and moved to Grand Island when he was 10. His grandmother, Saltonia Budwey, a native of Lebanon, opened a store on Oliver Street in 1912. His father, James, took it over the business in the 1920s, but died of a heart attack at 39 in 1952. The children were 10, 9, 3 and 1. Frank was 3.

The family had four markets and a hot dog/hamburger stand — and his mother, Flora, at 29, kept the business together. “She worked for my father as a girl,” Frank said. “She was a woman in a man’s world and kept us going.”

Frank graduated from Grand Island High School in 1967 and was drafted in the Army, serving one year in Vietnam. He took over the family business in 1974.

“We all grew up in the business,” he recalled. “I was in the store when I was 5 years old and they started paying me when I was 10. I was the bottle boy, sorting Pepsi and beer bottles. I was paid 50 cents and hour — off the books. I studied at the store.”

Budwey has three children. Son Justin, 27, will manage the new store. “He’s been here with demolition and reconstruction,” said the father, who figures he’ll be putting in about 60 hours a week the first month.

“There’s been no problem with employment at all,” he said. “We’re very happy with interviews and the people available out here. They want to work and are very flexible to accommodate us they way we need them.

The store is across Main Street from the Newfane Manor and across Edwards Avenue from the post office.

Budwey has been associated with Super Duper, Bells, Jubilee and Freshmart. His current stores are “just Budwey’s,” he said. “This is my Father’s Day present on Sunday.”