Relics Of Cigar Store To Be Auctioned Off Time’s Up For Buhl’s Community Center

The pool tables and other relics that made Gibbs Cigar Store a community center and the precursor of the convenience store are going on the auction block.

It is not the first time Gibbs has seen a change in ownership, but it is the only time since 1916 that the store’s name and function have changed.

New owners Arthur C. Kimball and Faye Ross said remodeling of the building already has begun. They hope to turn the old hangout into a bakery and eatery for people with special dietary needs, Ross said.

Gibbs, where magazine racks held comic books and lights were never turned low, was the best place in town to play a game of pool and, in its heyday, a place to go for young and old alike.

Nelda Reynolds, daughter of longtime owner Clint Faux, said there were almost as many ice cream cones sold to children as drinks to the regulars. Faux, who worked for James Gibbs in the early 1920s, later purchased the hall and died there decades later.

“It was a modern-day convenience store,” Reynolds said. “It carried everything from aftershave to fishing tackle - but no groceries.”

It was also the town’s weekend bank when a man needed to cash a payroll check, said Farmer’s National Bank board Chairman Pat Hamilton Sr.

He used to give Faux $10,000 every Friday, then collect the paychecks Monday morning.

“Before the days of the ATM,” Hamilton said, “it was Gibbs.”