Peter Weinreich, franchisee of the 7-Eleven convenience store at 321 Hazeltine Avenue, is furious about the losses his business has suffered over the past two months due to road construction in front of his store. The road construction began on June 27 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

“Since they (the city planning department) closed the street, our store sales have dropped by just over $100,000,” he said. “They closed 66 percent of the streets leading to the shops, left the smallest street open and put up a sign at the end saying ‘Road Closed.’ People told me they thought all the shops were closed because of the signs.”

A June 25 Post-Journal article said the road project would create a T-shaped intersection instead of the familiar Y-shaped intersection near Persell Middle School.

“When you come into town from Baker and turn onto Hazeltine, there is a big curve with a wide radius,” Said Mark Roetzer Jr., acting director of the Jamestown Department of Public Works. “We’re turning onto that street, narrowing the intersection and creating a T-intersection so that when people turn from Baker Street onto Hazeltine, they have to slow down to make that turn.”

City road construction has hindered and hampered the growth of the 7-Eleven franchise store at 321 Hazeltine Avenue. Store owner Peter Weinreich blames the city for closing most of the roads leading to the store, claiming inadequate signage makes people think his store is closed.

The project was designed by engineers from the city’s Department of Public Works and is funded by Chautauqua County. DPW and city public works crews will perform utility work for about two weeks before Lakeshore Paving crews begin digging up the road. During construction, access to Bergman Park will be available via Cityview Avenue, something Mayor Kim Ecklund emphasized because the park hosts baseball games in the summer and the World Series of Wheels auto show, as well as the city’s annual Labor Day Festival at the end of the summer.

Weinreich emphasized, however, that his company has seen growth year after year – until now.

“I have been here for almost five and a half years and my business is growing month after month and year after year,” he said. “In the first six days of this month, we’ve already lost $19,000. If you look at February, March, April and May, we’re up compared to last year. It wasn’t until the roadworks started that we were down.”

Weinreich explained that he has already had to reduce his employees’ working hours to make ends meet, and that even deeper cuts may be ahead.

OBSERVER – Photo by Michael Zabrodsky. A 7-Eleven sign at the corner of Delaware and Hazeltine avenues points to the store near Persell Middle School, while a “road closed” sign reminds pedestrians and motorists that Hazeltine Avenue is closed but open to local traffic only.

“I don’t want to say that we should lay people off, but I had to cut employees’ working hours,” he said.

Weinrich said his business did more than $3 million in sales last year and he had to add extra staff to every shift, but this year, more specifically, he’s had to reduce his employees’ hours since construction began.

“I don’t know if my business can survive this,” he said.

Roetzer was contacted by phone and email for comment, but no official response was received at the time of writing.

Michael Zabrodsky contributed to this report.