The future is coming into focus for a local business that has been in the center of development talks for years.

Trish and Ed Burkholder, owners of the Country Bride and Gent at 708 Sumneytown Pike, announced Monday they have sold that property and plan to move the business by the end of the year.

“We have long outgrown our space, and this sale provides us with a wonderful opportunity to relocate to a larger and more modern salon,” the two said in a statement on Monday.

For customers, the transition will be “seamless — absolutely nothing is changing at all,” said Trish Burkholder, writes Dan Sokil in the Lansdale Reporter.

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Several public hearings were held over the course of 2017 before the township commissioners voted down one version of the plans in July 2017, and a revised version that November, leading the developer to create a new website entitled “Bring Wawa to Upper Gwynedd” and challenge the denial in court.

Talks on the Wawa project began as the couple had started to plan an expansion of the existing Country Bride and Gent, the Burkholders said Monday.

“That’s when we put everything on hold,” Trish Burkholder said — “and here we are, now, three years later, and we can finally start making plans now,” Ed added.

Settlement on a sale to Goodman took place Monday morning, according to the couple, and they have already started to develop their list of criteria for a new site, which they hope will be “in the immediate area,” as close as possible to the current location.

“We are as committed today as we were when we opened the store in 1995. Providing our customers with the best fashion styles, service, and quality has been, and always will be, our main objective,” the couple said. “We look forward to continue servicing the brides and grooms of our area for a very long time.”

Their goal is to be ready for a move by the end of the year, since winter tends to be their least busy season due to few winter weddings.

To read the complete story click here.

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