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Crocks goes out of business
BY PHIL ANDREWS
THE CHRONICLE JOURNAL
1996-06-13
 A long-established Northwestern On-
tario stopping point for Canadian musi-
cal acts travelling cross the country may
have heard its swan song.
 Frank Loffredo, the owner of Thun-
der Bay's Crocks N Rolls bar, said his
business' last night of operation was
Monday.
 "The longer it's closed the more peo-
ple will say how important it was," pre-
dicted Loffredo.  "This means there's
nothing between Winnipeg and Toronto 
for a lot of bands."
 Loffredo said closing his 13-year-old
business was a bitter pill for him to
swallow -- and it's still bothering him.
He said a drop-off in patrons killed
the business and cited the boom of bars
selling "cheap beer and dance music" as
one of the factors in Crocks' demise.
Loffredo said several people were em-
ployed at the bar.  But he didn't offer a
specific number of people who would be
left out of work as a result of its
closure.
 "I really enjoyed what I did," said Lof-
fredo, during a phone interview Wednes-
day night.  "It was pretty exciting for a
long time.  It was a way of living for me .
. . It sure beat digging ditches."
Crocks operated out of a building at
24 S. Cumberland St. since it opened in 
1983.