A Hope landmark fell to the ground Thursday (4-15) evening just after 6pm. The former Barry’s building was demolished by Warner Mays. The building was essentially damaged beyond repair after the roof collapsed January 28th. At the time, the two inches of sleet that had fallen the weekend before was still largely on top of the building. Fortunately, when the building collapsed there were no customers in the store and owner Duane Brown was outside on the phone.
Planning for the demolition took several months as items were salvaged from the building and the structure was checked for materials that might need to be abated.
The building was built around 1919. It originally housed a Willys-Overland car dealership and service station. By the mid 1920’s, Young Chevrolet occupied the building. The Chevrolet dealership was in the building about 60 years before it was moved to North Hervey near I-30. After Young Chevrolet moved, Barry Brown purchased the building and moved his grocery store from the 200th block of East 2nd less than a block to the former dealership. Barry’s has occupied the building since 1986. The grocery store was a downtown Hope staple since 1953.
