Longtime manager buys, reopens Eisler Bros. Store

That was a short hiatus.

Scott Nelson,  longtime manager of the historic Eisler Bros. Old Riverton Store in Riverton, Kan., has purchased and reopened the business after it was shut down indefinitely Dec. 5 during ownership wrangling.

Eisler Bros. reopened Friday. Nelson, who’s managed the Route 66 grocery and souvenir shop since 1980, said in a phone interview Saturday that he officially closes on the ownership on Dec. 29.

“We’re back in business,” he said. “I’m glad to be back doing what we do.”

Now that he’ll own the property outright, Nelson says he has no drastic plans for the business that’s operated since 1925.

“We’re not going to do anything different with the building, that’s for sure,” he said. ” We just want to improve on what we do well.”

Nelson said he had been negotiating since June with longtime owners Joseph and Isabell Eisler to buy Eisler Bros. Store. He said the deal for the property started to fall into place earlier in the week.

“My vacation is over,” Nelson said, laughing. “It was about one week. That’s about all I could stand; that’s where I’m used to being every day. It all worked out, and it’s good to be back and going.”

(Photo by Ron Hart)