A couple from Flagstaff, Arizona, took over ownership Friday of the Historic Seligman Sundries coffee shop and souvenir store on Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona, from longtime proprietors Frank and Lynn Kocevar.
Thomas Muetzel and Ursula “Uschi” Fuchs, who were regular customers for about four years, plan no big changes for the business. The Kocevars plan to hang around for another 30 days or so, assisting the couple in the transition.
The Kocevars posted an announcement on the Facebook page about the handover Friday afternoon:
It all began with 2 years of renovations on the iconic but deteriorating, 110-year old Seligman Sundries building that would be brought back to life after being closed for a number of years. Over the past 10 years, owning, renovating and operating Historic Seligman Sundries has been a truly rewarding experience for us. The friendships we’ve developed are invaluable and will be treasured always.
But there comes a day when it’s time to move on to new adventures, and today is the day. Historic Seligman Sundries welcomes Uschi and Thomas, friends for the past four years, as its new owner/operators. We look forward to assisting our friends in maintaining the atmosphere and history that make Historic Seligman Sundries a landmark in Seligman and working with them to help foster a smooth transition.
As we enthusiastically begin a new journey to explore all that life has to offer, from our home in Seligman to wherever our Route 66 travels take us, we want to convey our heartfelt gratitude and say “thank you” to all of you who have supported and befriended us over the past 10 years. Meeting and greeting you from behind the counter was a wonderful way to begin friendships, but coming out from behind that counter and actually traveling the same roads and attending the same events as you will be an even nicer way to nurture those friendships. Welcome, Uschi and Thomas! And to all our friends and family on Route 66 and around the world … watch out, here we come.
Contacted by phone Saturday, Kocevar said the opportunity presented itself earlier this summer.
“About three months ago, they asked us to contact us if we ever thought about selling,” he said. “We thought the business needed some new energy; it needs some new life.”
Kocevar said he and Lynn have no firm plans to retire and may look for a new venture. But first, they want to explore the Mother Road that brought them so much business and memories over the past decade.
“We want to explore Route 66 from a different viewpoint,” he said. “We want to be able to do a lot of different things, such as drive a car in the (Arizona Route 66) Fun Run. We greatly enjoyed what we did at Seligman Sundries, but we weren’t able to get away because we had to run the business. We have cyberfriends all over the country we’d see once a year; we want to be able to visit them.”
The Historic Seligman Sundries building opened in 1904 and remains one of the oldest in town. Over the years, it has served as a theater, dance hall, trading post and soda fountain. It even hosted high school graduations during the early years of Seligman. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.
The above photo of the Kocevars handing over the large key to the couple was a key-making sign hanging near Historic Seligman Sundries’ front door.
“We were going to hand over the keys, and thought of that big key sign to hand over instead for the photo,” Kocevar said, chuckling.
(Image courtesy of Frank Kocevar)