With no fanfare and a simple message delivered via social media, the Corydon Hotel has closed its doors — the second Corydon Township business to have closed over the weekend.
A brief post on Facebook read only, “We are sorry but the owner of the Corydon has decided to close the doors. Effective August 1st. Thank you for all your patronage for the past 2 years.”
Manager Joe Yohe said, “It’s closed for good. The owner is very interested in selling.”
The owner is Pat Giordano of Houston, Texas.
Yohe, who had been there “on and off for 15 or 20 years,” said the decision was out of his hands. “The owner just got tired of it. He just said he wanted to close it.”
It’s a tough time to be in the food business, Yohe added.
“The rise in food costs really hurt us. The price of beef is sky high. Chicken, too. You just can’t make money,” he said.
At the same time, the hotel’s liquor license came up for renewal on Aug. 1.
The owner “just said ‘forget it. I’m done.’ There’s nothing I could do. I would have loved to have kept it going,” Yohe said.
Giordano, reached late Tuesday at his Texas home, said he kept the place open for the last several years out of love for his native home and loyalty to Willow Creek.
“Business is tough. In every aspect of the business, the state keeps raising the taxes and the fees,” Giordano said. “The food costs, the liquor costs and the beer costs … We’re 12 miles outside of Bradford. Nobody’s got any money to buy the gas to come out.”
He added, “I’m 66-years-old. I live 1,600 miles away and it’s difficult for me to keep an eye on my business.”
Giordano praised Yohe for his management skills, but said he just couldn’t keep the place open any longer.
“I was born and raised in Lewis Run and call Bradford my home,” Giordano said. “Bradford was a thriving city when I grew up.”
Now, he said, the population is around 8,000 and incomes are low.
“It’s a tough climate in Bradford,” he said. Closing the hotel “really hurts inside. It’s been in my heart since 1963 when I was helping my mother and father build it.”
His love for the place “is exactly why it’s been open this long,” Giordano said.
The Willows, another restaurant out West Washington Street in the Willow Creek area, closed on Aug. 1 as well.
“With The Willows closing, our business could have doubled,” Yohe said, lamenting Giordano’s decision.
Years ago, hunting season was the most profitable time of year for the hotel. However, with the declining deer herd in Pennsylvania, that hasn’t been the case.
“The hunting really killed us,” Yohe said. “During the hunting season, we could pretty much pay our bills through the entire winter.”
Yohe said Giordano has expressed an interest in selling the business, or in turning the facility into a private hunting camp.
“If there’s anyone interested in buying, call out there to 814-362-1919 and leave a message on the machine. I’ll relay it to the owner,” Yohe said. He wouldn’t stay on, he added, but would be willing to help a new owner get established. “I would like to see it reopened. I would help somebody out, lend them a hand.”
Giordano confirmed he would be interested in hearing from potential buyers — but only for a limited time.
“I’m open for selling,” he said. “But if something doesn’t happen between now and hunting season, I’m going to remodel the inside of it and make it Pat Giordano’s hunting camp.”
