Come Friday, Auburn Monument will have a new home.

The long-time downtown Auburn business is moving to the west side of town across from the Bombardier factory, something owner John Hurd and his associate Charlie Avino are excited about.

"It's a busy thoroughfare and we'll get the traffic coming down Columbus," Avino said.

The new showroom, situated on the corner of Columbus and Underwood, will have an outdoor display area, which the store did not have downtown. They used to display monuments outside their Genesee Street store until recently when the city made them move the monuments back inside.

The move comes not out of choice, but out of necessity. John Piccolo, of Piccolo Properties in Auburn, purchased the building that houses the store, and according to Avino, the shop front will now house Piccolo's daughter's business, Fabric Fair Upholstery on Clark Street. Neither Piccolo nor the owners of Fabric Fair Upholstery returned phone calls for this story.

The old Auburn Monument store will be vacant by Friday and this week, Avino and Hurd will be moving the display monuments to the new site. Avino says it will be a lot of work to haul all the stone monuments across town.

While there are about a half dozen monument stores in Cayuga County, few have outdoor displays. Avino said they plan on displaying 50 pieces at their new site, from flat grass markers to slanted headstones to typical upright monuments. The monuments will be moved from their Rochester facility this week.

Avino hopes the new location will increase their visibility and attract street traffic from people who didn't know they were there.

"It'll be better for us and our customers," Avino said. "It'll be a very good location.