As we look back on 2022 in the Danville area, it will definitely be remembered as the year we said “goodbye” to a lot of things. One thing in particular was a business that had been on the northwest corner of North Vermilion and Liberty Lane for a long time: Fagen Auto Parts.
The word came in late March that Fagen president Ken Salomon had heard yet another offer for the Fagen’s property, and this time, he decided to listen, and then decided to accept. On previous occasions, he had listened, but said no.
AUDIO: These guys convinced me otherwise, and it’s been in the works for a while. It was early last summer, late spring maybe, when we started talking. Things were still a little shakey, coming out of the COVID. I just felt like it was the right time.
So from the early days, with Salomon’s grandfather at northwest of South and Hazel starting in 1929, to over 50 years northwest of Vermilion and Liberty, the store closed and the inventory was moved to Fagen’s Champaign location; with everything ending with the “Picker’s Sale” the weekend of June 3rd and 4th. The old Fagen’s structure still stands for now, but plans call for New Lease Development, LLC out of Fort Worth, Texas to put up both a 7-Brew drive-thru coffee shop and a Take 5 Oil Change at the location.
