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Kelly Bridges shows a handmade, Western Shoshone peace pipe at The Fur Traders next to the Bonanza Market on Broad Street, in downtown Nevada City. Fur Traders owner Barry Costello said his business is doing well despite the downturn, and is fielding offers to possibly expand his business.
The owner of The Fur Traders, a ubiquitous presence on Broad Street in downtown Nevada City for three decades, said he is fielding offers to expand his businesses to Grass Valley and other tourist hotspots in California.
But the string of three stores in Nevada City, he said, are staying put and are doing quite well.
Costello said he’s been offered free rent in some cases, to expand to Grass Valley, and has fielded callers wanting him to expand to places like Geyserville in Sonoma County and Auburn. Nothing has been finalized, and negotiations have been verbal at this point.
Representatives of the Grass Valley Downtown Association said no deals have been made, or seriously discussed yet.
“I’m open to the offers people are making to us,” Costello said. “There’s no limit on the amount of them.”
Costello said he can’t offer specifics on possible Grass valley locations, but noted his three stores in Nevada City are doing well.
He said he gets about two or three offers a year to open stores elsewhere.
Costello opened his first store in Grass Valley, across the street from where the current post office stands.
“In our business, after 30 years, we have quite a built-in following,” Costello said. “Our (recent) growth has not been as it has been in the last eight to 10 months, but that doesn’t matter to us. People are holding onto their money, and when the economy turns around, it will start loosening up.”
At a time when Nevada County’s unemployment rate tops 11 percent, Costello and his employees remain bullish. In addition to the retail stores, Costello, 68, an ardent critic of the city’s business improvement district which mandates a yearly assessment for downtown-related activities and improvements, has been a businessman for most of his adult life.
At one point, Costello owned the town of Drake, Colorado, a burg of just 30 people on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, with a post office, a fur trading post, bar and restaurant. He’s also owned a hide-tanning business on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Costello’s three Broad Street stores — Nevada City Traders, The Fur Traders and The Fur Traders No. 2 — all cater to different, but not dissimilar shoppers. Nevada City
Traders carries western shirts, shoes and women’s attire. The Fur Traders sells furs, leathers, jackets, hides and rugs. The original Fur Traders near the top of Broad Street sells handmade Indian items, riding gear for motorcycles and other high-end trinkets.
“Each store has its own flavor,” said Kelley Bridges, who runs the original store at 319 W. Broad. “We’re still here and we’re constantly expanding the things that we carry.”
At the top of Broad Street, Fur Traders’ clerk Dean Sells — who’ll turn a quick pun on his last name if you ask — says sales, on a scale of one to 10, are an eight.
“We haven’t felt that big crunch yet,” he said. Most of the customers, he said “usually use the plastic.”
Costello’s businesses do well, Sells said, in part because of tour buses that make the stores a regular stop through the Gold Country.
“We’re guaranteed traffic every year,” he said.
But the string of three stores in Nevada City, he said, are staying put and are doing quite well.
Costello said he’s been offered free rent in some cases, to expand to Grass Valley, and has fielded callers wanting him to expand to places like Geyserville in Sonoma County and Auburn. Nothing has been finalized, and negotiations have been verbal at this point.
Representatives of the Grass Valley Downtown Association said no deals have been made, or seriously discussed yet.
“I’m open to the offers people are making to us,” Costello said. “There’s no limit on the amount of them.”
Costello said he can’t offer specifics on possible Grass valley locations, but noted his three stores in Nevada City are doing well.
He said he gets about two or three offers a year to open stores elsewhere.
Costello opened his first store in Grass Valley, across the street from where the current post office stands.
“In our business, after 30 years, we have quite a built-in following,” Costello said. “Our (recent) growth has not been as it has been in the last eight to 10 months, but that doesn’t matter to us. People are holding onto their money, and when the economy turns around, it will start loosening up.”
At a time when Nevada County’s unemployment rate tops 11 percent, Costello and his employees remain bullish. In addition to the retail stores, Costello, 68, an ardent critic of the city’s business improvement district which mandates a yearly assessment for downtown-related activities and improvements, has been a businessman for most of his adult life.
At one point, Costello owned the town of Drake, Colorado, a burg of just 30 people on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, with a post office, a fur trading post, bar and restaurant. He’s also owned a hide-tanning business on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Costello’s three Broad Street stores — Nevada City Traders, The Fur Traders and The Fur Traders No. 2 — all cater to different, but not dissimilar shoppers. Nevada City
Traders carries western shirts, shoes and women’s attire. The Fur Traders sells furs, leathers, jackets, hides and rugs. The original Fur Traders near the top of Broad Street sells handmade Indian items, riding gear for motorcycles and other high-end trinkets.
“Each store has its own flavor,” said Kelley Bridges, who runs the original store at 319 W. Broad. “We’re still here and we’re constantly expanding the things that we carry.”
At the top of Broad Street, Fur Traders’ clerk Dean Sells — who’ll turn a quick pun on his last name if you ask — says sales, on a scale of one to 10, are an eight.
“We haven’t felt that big crunch yet,” he said. Most of the customers, he said “usually use the plastic.”
Costello’s businesses do well, Sells said, in part because of tour buses that make the stores a regular stop through the Gold Country.
“We’re guaranteed traffic every year,” he said.
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
