Orange Street News
VANDALISM? CORRUPTION? HAVE NO WHERE ELSE TO TURN? NO STORY TOO BIG OR SMALL THE OSN WILL INVESTIGATE! Please email news tips to Hildelysiak@gmail.com
EXCLUSIVE: Gun Shop to Close as Selinsgrove Loses Another Business
April 17 2017
By Hilde Kate Lysiak
Selinsgrove is about to lose another business. This time a popular gun store is closing.
High Velocity Firearms will be shutting its doors for good by the end of April because people want to buy things online and no one wants to go to stores, owner John Margel told the Orange Street News.
“Retail businesses can’t compete with online,” Margel told OSN.
High Velocity has been a popular Market Street destination for gun buyers since first opening back in 2011.
“I’m sad,” said Margel. “It is not something I wanted to do.”
Margel added that community leaders could be also be doing more to help small businesses survive. He thinks some fresh blood would be helpful.
“Selinsgrove needs new people who want to help small business,” said Margel.
The closing is bad news for Selinsgrove.
An Orange Street News investigation revealed that out of the forty-seven store fronts on Market Street between West Pine and University Avenue nearly one fifth are empty or for rent and that number doesn’t include the buildings that are houses or apartments.
In December, Michael’s, the only diner in Selinsgrove, told the OSN that the Borough Council “doesn’t care about business” before shutting it’s doors for good.
Domenico Napoli, who owns Bella’s Pizzeria on Market Street, believes that one of the reasons businesses might be closing is that too many people are skipping the downtown and shopping at the strip or the mall.
“You need to do something different downtown rather than have the same items all the time. There is no variety. There is no reason why someone would come downtown and shop because there is nothing to shop for anymore. A shoe store, anything that would attract the female demographic area. You know if the woman wants to shop the husband will follow,” said Napoli.
However, at the beginning of the year it appeared that business might be making a come back.
In January the OSN reported the opening of three new businesses: Shady Pine Primitive, Tudor House Pies, and Color Outside the Lines.
Despite the bad news Margel isn’t done with his business goals.
“I am ready for a new adventure,” he said.
Orange Street News 
How is buying a gun on line even legal? Why would anyone buy a gun they could not hold?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It still requires you to send it to a licenses gun broker, where the broker will charge processing fees, but it is not enough to pay the overhead needed. You can not just buy a hand gun and ship to your house
LikeLike
Excellent piece (love the video as well).
This is a challenge downtown cores have been wrestling with all across the country. Between online shopping, big box stores, and malls downtown businesses have seen a deep erosion in their “built in” base.
The answers aren’t simple, and they vary from community to community (it’s not a “one size fits all” proposition), but I really believe it is possible for shop owners and business groups, working in cooperation with local governments, to effectively revitalize in many areas, and create the unique positioning needed to become (as the antique shop owner in the video says) a “destination” location.
LikeLike
This is so sad to hear.
Pretty soon there will be no reason to come to Selinsgrove, the downtown will turn into another Sunbury.
LikeLike
Very sorry to see John closing his business. When I needed to find a crossbow for a community play I was.directing, he was very helpful to me in finding an individual who loaned us one. A very good guy.
LikeLike
Look at the mall too. JC Penneys is gone, Sears is gone, Justice is closing, there are always empty stores. I have never understood why that mall couldn’t get much business. Same with downtown in Selinsgrove. Everyone must be going to Wal-Mart and Target.
LikeLike
Oh and also, my husband won’t follow me anywhere to go shopping lol.
LikeLike
Pingback: OSN Top Stories of the Week | Orange Street News