The southwest corner of New Castle and Main streets in Butler has been home to many retail shops over the years. But in the last few years, it has been vacant more often than not.

Passing it daily on his way into The Brick House, entrepreneur Larry Goettler would look in the window and wonder who would step up to the plate next. He had hoped maybe someone would open up a new restaurant, giving people more reason to come downtown in the evening.

"The more restaurants downtown the merrier," Goettler said.

Unfortunately, just the opposite has occurred with five liquor licensed restaurants leaving the downtown in the past three years.

"The big chains are buying up every liquor license they can get their hands on and paying upward of $200,000 for them. That's a big incentive for the marginal operator to take the money and run. Those licenses are gone, and they aren't coming back," Goettler said.

That gave Larry Goettler an idea. He knew that it's difficult for an independent restaurant to make it without a liquor license. His Brick House restaurant shares a wall with this unique corner space. Why not extend his license to the corner space and open up another restaurant himself? Why not?

"Once I realized it was possible, the decision was easy. It cost me $200 to license this space vs. the $200,000 that licenses are going for now," Goettler said.

"We created a menu and decor like none other in the region. Haser's on Main Street may well be downtown Butler's last opportunity for a new restaurant where you can get a great meal and a libation too. The city of Butler, from the mayor's office on down helped make this possible."

This location was a much loved restaurant from 1935 to 1949. The sign is the original from that era. Mr. Goettler had to scrape off 20 coats of paint to uncover it, and restoring the space for his new restaurant was the easy job.