Tuxedo Shop Leaves, Insurance Agency Fills Vacancy

Smithtown's Main Street will soon have one less vacancy as Central Insurance Agency will take over the former home to Rogers Tuxedos.

The agency is set to move to its new 93 East Main Street location on May 1, according to George Gavaris, president of Central.

Rogers closed late last year and moved all remaining tuxedos and other products to its Centereach location, an employee for the store confirmed Monday.

"During the last four or five years we've had tremendous growth," Gavaris said of the need to move.

Aside from growth, Gavaris said because of real estate prices hitting new lows and it being easier to buy than to rent that the time for the agency to move was now. Central rented their former home at 24 Belle Meade Avenue.

Central is a nationwide speciality commercial insurance brokerage that focuses on hard-to-place contractors.

The agency was set to take its new location April 1, but experienced delays preventing them from doing so. Gavaris said the Town of Smithtown has been extremely helpful with the permit and inspection process and the reason for the delay was due to the design and shape of the building. 

"It was just a question of coordinating ... you have to do one piece at a time," he said. "We had some design issues ... we couldn't get a design the way we wanted it to fit the amount of people we want to put in there."