BJ's closes after 47 years
Beacon's Main Street is bound to feel somber for lifelong residents as the calendar flips to 2026: BJ's Restaurant, which for 47 years has cooked up batches of soul food while serving as an unofficial community gathering place, has changed ownership.
The building's new owner, an LLC, will operate a restaurant in the space at 213 Main, but declined to say what type of food will be offered. The sale closed on Wednesday (Dec. 31); the building was listed in June for $1.1 million.
Barbara Sims said her age and health left her little choice but to sell the restaurant she opened in 1978. She'll be 90 in September and said it would make no sense for her to pour money into an older building.
"The sad thing is I'd keep it open, but I have nobody to pass it on to," she said. "If I did, it would be a whole lot different.
"My customers have been very good to me," she said. "But nothing lasts forever."

Her 66-year-old daughter, Brenda, who has worked with her mother daily for 21 years, said her own health concerns contributed to the decision. Before working full-time at the restaurant, she worked part-time there, especially on long weekends, while serving in the U.S. Army, including six years stationed at West Point.
The building, which includes two upstairs apartments, had been a Greek restaurant. Barbara bought it out of foreclosure.
Initially, BJ's offered mostly coffee and donuts, with Barbara's mother, Thelma Humphrey, opening the shop early each morning and running it until Barbara returned from her job as a nurse's aide at the VA Hospital in Montrose, a position she held for two decades.
"Thelma made the donuts," Barbara said. "In those early years, we'd take in no more than $50 a day."
That changed when a customer urged Barbara to "have a fish fry." She bought 10 pounds of fish, put a paper sign in the window and quickly sold out. Whiting, porgy and tilapia were popular.

Barbara said Beacon was a different city in the 1970s and '80s. "I had to replace my store windows about six times," she said. "I bought metal shutters that I'd roll down when we were closed."
BJ's — the name came from Barbara Joan and Brenda Joyce — is one of the last "old Beacon" businesses on Main Street and was more than a place to grab a quick bite. "Every time there was a funeral or wedding, people would come here," Barbara said. "They'd get food, but they'd also hang out and meet each other. That's another sad part about closing."
Her favorite menu items were fish, potato salad and home fries. For Brenda, it was chicken wings. Customers liked oxtails, fried chicken, barbecue ribs and chicken wings. "We'd go through up to six, 40-pound cases of wings a week," Brenda said, noting that 75 percent of their business was takeout.
Brenda said she'll miss customers the most. "Complete strangers became like family to me," she said. But she won't miss working 12 to 14 hours daily.
Up to the moment the closed sign went into the door, Barbara did all the baking, including corn bread, pies and cakes. "I made three cakes yesterday: carrot, lemon and vanilla chocolate," she said on Monday (Dec. 29).

Customers would call to ensure Barbara's deviled eggs were available. No one liked them more than Tim O'Leary, a lifelong Beacon resident. "Brenda would text me pictures of them and ask how many I wanted set aside," he said.
He emphasized what Barbara and Brenda meant to the community. "They saw us through the rough times, they really did," he said. "They've always been kind, hardworking ladies," although he noted Barbara's big heart was lined with tough love. "People in need would go to her, and she would help them," O'Leary said. "But she'd also tell them what they needed to do."
Barbara lamented the shortage of familiar customers from her generation. "Most regulars my age have either passed away or moved on," she said.
But Brenda said the children of Barbara's generation were still regulars, including a group that, during warm weather months,...

Ver todos los episodios