TIONESTA, Pa. (EYT) – Good news for the people of Tionesta!  New owners are now working hard to renovate; they plan to open in June or July. 

(PICTURED ABOVE: Bradley, Connie, and Allison Coppella.)

Opening hours are still to be determined as the owners continue to evaluate the circumstances surrounding COVID-19.

Connie Coppella and her oldest son, Bradley Coppella, are the new owners. Connie’s husband, Ray Sekula, is overseeing the renovations, along with help from Connie’s other three children — Allison, Derek, and Joel Coppella.

Ray Sekula is a longtime camp owner in Cook Forest, and the couple both greatly enjoy spending time in the area and have always wanted to find a way to become even more involved in the community.

Bradley is a 2011 graduate of the Smeal College of Business at Penn State. He has always looked forward to starting a business and is excited to have the opportunity to do this in partnership with his family. Allison just enrolled as a nursing student at Clarion University beginning this fall and will be helping at the store in her free time.

Connie is the public face of the store and will be overseeing the day-to-day operations.

Connie Coppella and husband Ray Sekula

Ray is a professional contractor and is the owner of Ray Sekula Construction in DuBois, Pa. The Sekula family are longtime camp owners in Cook Forest.

“We are doing our best to support other local businesses whenever possible,” said Connie. “We purchased our insurance policy from Matt Confer of Burns & Burns, new flooring from Tionesta Builders Supply, renovation materials from Lander’s General Store and Ochs Building Supply, new heat and hot water systems installed by Motter Refrigeration, and will have a new water filtration system installed by Hartzell’s Water Conditioning. We are also grateful to Randy Lander for his mentorship and Marty Taugner of Howard Hanna Forest Realty for his patience and helpfulness throughout the process of buying the store.”

The market has a long history of family-based ownership — records show the Faraone family owned and operated the business until 1985 when it was sold to Jeff and Mary Weaver. In 2009, the McCloskey family purchased the market and operated it until it closed in 2016.