We were on our way to snag a quick dozen at South Street Bagel this weekend and nearly fell over when we passed the intersection of 5th & Bainbridge. On the northwest corner, John C Paul and Sons has been selling paper goods and cleaning supplies for decades and now this business has apparently shut down for good.

The store

The shelves have been cleared out, the warehouse apparently emptied, and in the window, a sign suggests that former customers patronize PJP Marketplace, located by the Betsy Ross Bridge.

In the window

Apparently, the people who own the building, 501 Bainbridge Inc, not only own the building on the corner, but also own all the buildings on the west side of 5th Street up to Kater. Last year, the entire collection of properties were listed for sale for $3.1M. This included over 10K sqft of land and about 24K sqft of interior space. They didn’t get their price, and the properties came off the market unsold.

All of the buildings owned by 501 Bainbridge Inc. Image from Trend

With the store closing, could this mean that the buildings will come back on the market, maybe at a lower price? Or do the storeowners have nothing to do with the ownership of the parcels? Either way, a rather large commercial space has come available on a desirable corner, right near South Street. We’re not sure that another huge bar/restaurant concept like the nearly-ready Bainbridge Street Barrel House could open a mere block away, but the warehouse space could be a nice spot for something like that. Or residential rentals, perhaps. Or laser tag?