GAINESVILLE - A downtown Gainesville business landmark has closed its doors for the final time.
Jerry Nix, longtime operator of one of the few remaining "full-service" service stations in Gainesville, spent part of Tuesday meeting and greeting friends and former customers after word got out that he had closed the station.
Nix says it was an "humbling" experience.
"And, because of people like that, our business has existed there for 38 years."
Nix opened for business in 1966 on Butler Parkway when the busy four-lane was a two-lane street, kown as Sycamore Street.
Nix said the four-laning was good for business, but the cost of his lease and the continually rising cost of gasoline just made it impossible to continue.
Nix said one of the hardest things about closing is the impact its going to have on his customers - many of them senior citizens who depended on the full-service nature of his operation.
"The little widows and people like that who, some of them, have never pumped (their own) gas before."
Nix said it was also hard to have to let his employees go - some of whom had been with him many years.
He said he's not sure what he'll do next, but he is not retiring. Right now, though, he does plan to take some time off.
Thursday
April 3rd, 2025
5:08PM
