Dave’s Wonderland Outlet store in Silver Creek is now officially open for business. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Wednesday morning at the 18 Main St. location previously occupied by Petri Baking.

“I think this is a great thing for the village of Silver Creek. I think this is going to create some traffic downtown,” said Silver Creek Mayor Jeff Hornburg.

The location will also serve as a warehouse and distribution center, which will sell various household items and decor among its extensive inventory of approximately 128,000 items available online.

“It is our hope that as this beautiful store is being finished off, other businesses will think, ‘This is a place to come to. I’m going to come down to Silver Creek. I’m going to open up a business because they are making money, and I want to make money,’ ” said Hanover Town Board member Ed Schintzius.

Dave Gordon, owner of Dave’s Wonderland Outlet on Main Street in Silver Creek, cut the ribbon for a crowd of approximately 30 people on Wednesday morning. Photos by Braden Carmen

Owner Dave Gordon spoke to a crowd of approximately 30 guests in attendance at the grand opening. Hornburg and Schintzius also spoke to welcome Gordon to the community. Also in attendance were staff members on behalf of state Sen. George Borrello, U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, and Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, as well as Hanover Town Board members Bernie Feldmann and Lou Pelletter.

“I’ve had numerous conversations with Dave when he was in the process of buying the business. I applaud his work ethic and his drive to be successful,” said Hornburg.

Gordon opened the store as part of three stores in Western New York –along with locations in Chaffee and Cheektowaga — to serve as an in-person presence for his online retail business, Xmas Dave LLC. The location serves as both a store and a warehouse – one of seven warehouse locations for the company across Western New York.

“There are returns from the internet, there are times when we have excess merchandise where we have too much of something and we need an outlet to sell it, so we decided to do it ourselves,” Gordon.

Gordon works with many partners including Amazon and Target, which Gordon referred to as his company’s largest partnership. Gordon has been in business with Dave’s Christmas Wonderland in its various stages of operation for 46 years.

The majority of Gordon’s business now comes from online domains daveschristmas.com, which he has owned since its inception, and christmas.com, which was acquired three years ago from a “cyber-squatter” who purchased the domain name but never operated a business under its name. While the store has an emphasis on the Christmas season, items for everyday use as well as all major holidays are sold.

The former Petri Baking building required extensive renovations since Gordon purchased the facility. He noted that from the time of purchase up to the grand opening, approximately $1 million has been invested into the 140,000 square foot facility. Gordon took guests in attendance on a tour of the facility after the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Petri Baking had been in Silver Creek for a number of years before closing its doors in 2013. While initial plans were to re-open, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic caused the company to change course. The building has since been owned by a regional company for warehouse distribution and storage with one part-time property manager.

“Years ago, Petri’s was the center of this area. … Unfortunately, Petri’s is gone, but we’re looking forward to the success of this beautiful store and business,” said Schintzius.

Judging by the turnout on short notice on a snowy, windy day in the village, the business and local officials are optimistic for its success.

“Everybody here has been very welcoming. I thank everyone for everything,” Gordon said.