From left, John Jaroszynski, Dave Jaroszynski, and Michele Jaroszynsk Hartweg prepare for their retirement sale. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee

After 105 years of being in business Geer-Dunn is closing shop.

The business, located at 309 Prendergast Ave., will be holding a going into retirement sale as it prepares to close its operations. The brick-and-mortar storefront has been a purveyor of residential and commercial office supplies and equipment in Chautauqua County. Originally, the store was founded in 1919 and has changed physical locations numerous times.

“I’m going to retire and enjoy life a little more,” said owner Dave Jaroszynski of Geer-Dunn. “I mean, I started in 1957 when I was 16. That’s like three government retirements. The passion and fun of doing business is gone for me.”

Jaroszynski said the face of business has changed over the years, making it harder and harder for the “little guy” to compete with large national and international corporations – especially the online only stores.

“The handwriting has been on the wall for a while,” he said. “We made it 100 years, I bought the business in 1970, so at 83-years-old, retirement has been a long time coming. Even our suppliers are making it harder for us. It’s not getting any better, and there’s only one way we can go.”

Jaroszynski said that the volume of sales has changed.

“Back when I started, in the 1950s, the Geer family sold $100,000 worth of greeting cards. This is back when cards were selling for five cents to a quarter for a card. I mean, this goes way back to when we had social stationery, which we haven’t had for years,” he said. “We used to sell a ton of filing cabinets, corridor, letter size, legal size, and vertical piles. Then when the cloud and internet came about. … that market died off.”

Jaroszynski said he believes the internet has caused damage not only to small businesses like his, but also the larger, national, brick-and-mortar stores, as well.

“OfficeMax went out of business here, and the mall isn’t doing too well either,” he said. “If a place like OfficeMax can’t make it, how can we?”

The Office Max, located at 318 E. Fairmount Ave. located next to the Chautauqua Mall, closed its doors on May 16, 2020. Sarah England, a spokeswoman for Office Depot Inc., said the company “continues to optimize its retail footprint,” and as a result, the local OfficeMax would close. “We will continue to serve our customers online at officedepot.com.”

OfficeMax merged with Office Depot on November 5, 2013.

Jaroszynski, said that W.B. Mason purchased his store strictly for the accounts that Geer-Dunn has on the books.

“W.B. Mason just wanted out customer bases,” he said. “They could care less about the building, they just wanted to add to their customer database.”

According to wbmason.com, W.B. Mason provides products for the workplace. The primary product lines include office and school supplies, paper, janitorial supplies, furniture, food and breakroom supplies, technology and electronics, food service, and custom printing.

However, even with retirement pending and the store’s retirement sale coming up Jaroszynski, remains thankful to all those who’ve supported his business through the years.

“I want to thank all the customers and businesses who’ve supported us over the years,” he said. “You’re the reason we stayed in as long as we have.”

For more information call 716-664-6616.