A Piece of Brockport
On October of 1981, a recent graduate of Brockport , purchased a three story building on Main Street and the rest is history. For the past 39 years, Darlene Trento, 59, has collected and sold many unique pieces at her Bittersweet store.
Bittersweet is a much different atmosphere from the modern day college students at the college. Walking into the shop, you are met by a rustic cash register. The cash register was Trento’s grandfather’s in the 1800's and now it is her family for years to come.
Opening a business at 21 and just graduating college is a very big milestone for someone,
“It was scary, because at that point I made buckets and jewelry, the two things I made myself, and then it evolved to many peoples work from all over the place. I went to college here, I studied Psychology and Business double major and minor in Fine Arts. I wanted to sell here, raise a family, and bought this building. The rest is history.” said Trento.
The three story building was built for a bank in the 1800's. The first floor consists of her shop, the second floor is an office space and the third floor is an empty floor.
When Govenor Cuomo issued the shutdown on all non-essential businesses in March of 2020, this bought many changes to Trento and her business.
“For 38 years I tell you, I’ve never been closed so long, you know what I mean, it was such a weird thing being closed. From March 16 to the end of May, and I’m one of those people, that if its bad weather, were still open” says Trento.
“It has been hard like everything else but it is coming back, it is good now people are shopping. Im very happy.”
Through this pandemic, Bittersweet has many supporters online. Trento recalls how much support she has got from Facebook users.
“We’ve been here a long time, I had great support, I had letters written to me and on facebook people telling me to hang in there.” she said.
