BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the co-owners of the Hawk Music store, Feb. 19 will, in some way, be the day their music died.
After 50 years selling instruments and teaching music lessons at the Westgate Mall on Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem, the family-owned institution must vacate its location by that date.
- After 50 years at Westgate Mall in Bethlehem, Hawk Music must vacate its location by next month
- Hawk Music is among five mall businesses that must vacate
- Onyx Equities plans to demolish parts of the mall and also develop an adjacent area for other commercial businesses
According to Pat Hawk Paulus, who co-owns the store with her brother, Phil, they received notification via email on Jan. 17 from Onyx Equities, a Woodbridge, N.J., real estate investment, management and development firm that operates the mall.
Onxy plans to demolish nearly 50,000 square feet of shopping area and develop the site with additional shops and the construction of a smaller mall on the site to house restaurants and a Starbucks.
“They want us out in a couple weeks,” Paulus said. “It’s too soon, too fast, too quick. We’ve been here 50 years; my father started the business here in the mall. I just wish we could do it on our own, not be pushed out.”
Onyx also notified four other mall businesses — Fashion Nails, Holiday Hair, Subway and Westgate Jewelers — they must vacate.
Paulus spent Friday morning greeting well-wishers at the music store who expressed sadness at the store being forced out.
“I’m unhappy about them being pushed out,” Nancy Follweiler, 89, of Bethlehem said. “My son played trumpet and was in a band with Phil. We’re always here. We love these people. This isn’t right.”
Barb Fister, council president at Holy Trinity Memorial Lutheran Church in Catasauqua, offered free, temporary space at the church to continue holding music lessons.
“They want us out in a couple weeks. It’s too soon, too fast, too quick. We’ve been here 50 years; my father started the business here in the mall."Pat Hawk Paulus, co-owner of Hawk Music Store in Westgate Mall
Paulus also fielded phone call after phone call from folks.
“People have been calling all morning,” she said. “People asking, ‘What can I buy from you?’ and ‘Do you need help packing things up?’ It shows we’ve made a connection with people all these years.”
Hawk Music has been a staple of the Westgate Mall for five decades. Bethlehem native Bill Hawk, the late family patriarch and local musician who played in bands with Pat and Phil in area clubs, founded the business in 1973, the year the mall debuted.
Paulus said she and her brother have hired an attorney to try to extend the move date.
“We don’t have a lease; we pay month-to-month,” Paulus said. “But they expect us to pack up everything and get out in just a couple weeks. That doesn’t seem right.”
Paulus said while she is ready to step away from the music store, her brother may decide to relocate.
“I told him if he does, I can help with the books, but that’s it,” she said. “There just comes a time.”
