Store owner trading in business suits for beer

By Devin Roherty and Corey Jacobs

BELLEVILLE – Long-time Belleville business owner and formal mayoral candidate Richard Courneyea is closing his luxury clothing store and plans to open a craft brewery.

The decision to close his store Richard Davis – a fixture on Front St. since 1993 –  comes just days after Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that grocery stores can now sell beer. 20 per cent of shelf space will be reserved for Ontario craft beer.

Courneyea said he still remembers when he opened his store.

“I was eating a chocolate chip cookie in my pyjamas… when I got a call to come to this particular property and take it over, a small square footage, just about 300 square feet,” he said. “So, I had a table, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and  that became my store.”

Courneyea said he plans on opening his brewery in Corbyville.

QNet News will have more on this story.