A long-lived downtown convenience store that closed earlier this year will be reborn within the next few weeks.

Boots Convenience Store will reopen in its old location at 401 W. Beaver Ave., at the corner of North Atherton Street, said Fred McGovern, the store’s new owner. “I read lot of stories about how the west side was missing Boots, plus with Taco Bell and Arby’s gone, there’s not much up there now,” McGovern said.

McGovern, who worked at the former store, Boots Dairyette, for 10 years, said he jumped at the chance to follow his dream of becoming an entrepreneur.

“I’ve always wanted to be in business for myself,” he said. “I worked there for so long, and I have worked at Minit-Mart and Sheetz, so I pretty much got a handle on how to run it.”

The new Boots will be smaller — about 550 square feet — due to significant renovations that converted part of the store’s former space into an apartment. The tighter fit will cut down on what McGovern can sell, but he said he could make the high-profile location work by sticking with staples like milk, soda and subs.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “That area gets a lot of traffic.”

Antiquing in Lamar

In the long history of Ruby Nihart’s Antique Shop, the coming year may become known as its restoration period.

The shop at 4351 Nittany Valley Drive, past Ingram’s Market and right past the large, red building (if you reach the post office, you’ve gone too far), has been a landmark for many years. But in recent years, Nihart has scaled back her store’s hours.

“She was open by request,” said longtime friend Roger Hummel. “There was a sign at said to blow your car horn, and then she would come out and open up the store.”

With Hummel’s help, the store has been refurbished, with more aisle space and more room to browse Nihart’s impressive collection of antique furniture, glassware, china, bottles, Mason jars, baskets and assorted other mishmash, knickknacks and whodads.

“There’s something of everything in here,” Hummel said.

The store begin operating with regular hours, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and will look into opening on weekends when the spring rolls around.

If you want to call the store to before you make the drive to Lamar, its number is 570-726-3287.

Ni hao

The Happy Valley Chinese School organized as a nonprofit last month, after being run informally by a volunteer parent group for the past 10 years.

Yi Hu, the school’s principal, said the move was a result of steady growth. Word has spread rapidly about the school among the Chinese community in State College.

“With the number of students increasing each year, we thought, to make it a legal organization, that would make it easier to run it,” Hu said.

The school teaches Mandarin and Chinese culture, including dance classes, out of Penn State’s Willard Building on weekends. Its 120 students, ages 4 to 14, are organized into 11 levels roughly aligned with their age groups.

“The school is a good way for students to learn more about their culture in a formal environment,” Hu said.

Parents do most of the teaching, along with student volunteers from Penn State.

“We work very closely with the Penn State Chinese Students and Scholars Association to find Chinese students who like to teach,” Hu said.

While the school is primarily geared toward children with Chinese backgrounds, it does offer one class for those who don’t speak Mandarin at home. For more information on the school, call 777-8458.

Dunked

One of the two Dunkin’ Donuts shops downtown will close later this month.

Employee Ashley Lorent confirmed the smaller, “express” location at 432 E. College Ave., which opened in 2009, will close on Dec. 15.

Dunkin’ Donuts has two other locations in State College that will remain open, downtown at 200 W. College Ave. and 1381 E. College Ave., near the intersection with U.S. Route 322.

A name change

Nittany Urgent Care, which has been the target of a lawsuit brought by Mount Nittany Health System for trademark infringement, has changed its name to Advanced Urgent Care.

Mount Nittany obtained a trademark for its name in 2009. Its lawsuit claimed the urgent care center advertised and provided similar medical services to the health system.

Advanced Urgent Care had no comment on the name change.

Cliff White can be reached at 235-3928.