From staff reports
Genova’s Restaurant and Pizzeria on Seneca Street in Oil City will close its doors permanently at the end of business hours Saturday.
Owner John Pochron said the business has been struggling for the past seven to eight months, and he can no longer afford to keep the restaurant open.
In January, Pochron reduced the restaurant’s hours to four days a week, and dropped to two days a week in February while the former Oil City parking garage was being demolished.
Pochron said he has lined up a buyer for the property, but nothing has been finalized.
All the restaurant’s equipment will be auctioned off and Pochron has invited customers to visit the business one final time to say goodbye on Saturday.
Genova’s was re-opened by Pochron and his late wife, Linda, in March 2015 after a three-year hiatus.
Health issues and the inability to find good kitchen help led the couple to close the restaurant in mid-January 2012.
Genova’s first opened in 1982 in a two-story building that formerly housed the National Cash Register Co. and later Union Bus Terminal.
The Seneca Street business was later sold to Tom Lambos, and Linda Pochron worked as a waitress at the restaurant for seven years before she eventually bought it with her husband.
