Channel 4: "Vidler’s 5 & 10 an enduring treasure"

With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us and a somewhat new sense of normalcy returning to our daily lives, we’ve been overjoyed to welcome our beloved customers back into the store - whether in person or over the phone. In 90 years, we’ve pulled through the Great Depression, WWII, big box chain stores, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet we never take a day for granted. That’s why this on-line story by Jerry Sullivan on WIVB Channel 4 makes us so proud to carry on in creating Vidler’s history!

From the article:

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‘The story stretches all the way back to the late 19th century, when the large, very proud Vidler family emigrated from England to the United States, settling originally in Boston, Massachusetts.

Robert was one of the 13 Vidler children, and perhaps the most ambitious. In June of 1930, at the dawn of the Great Depression, just eight months after the market crash, he decided to open a small variety store on Main Street in East Aurora.

Cynical local merchants made bets that Vidler’s folly wouldn’t last six weeks. Suffice it to say, some family members did not consider this a very prudent move, either.

“When Granddad started this business, his older British sisters all said, ‘You’re not going to use the family name,’” Don Vidler recalled. “They said ‘The economy is horrible now and you’re going to go out of business and stain the family name forever’.”...

Yes, he didn’t ruin the family name, he ennobled it, making it a rich part of Western New York history. Today, 90 years later, Vidler’s 5 & 10… is still going strong…

Oh, and Vidler’s was recently given a Trip Advisors 2020 Travelers Choice award. 

“Two weeks ago, we found out we made the top 10 of their global listings,” said Don Vidler, the co-owner and unofficial PR man for the store. “We’re right up there with the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and Buckingham Palace.”’

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Read the full article here!