Did You Hear About Aberdale’s?

The winds of change are certainly here. Over the past few years businesses have come and gone. In addition, some businesses changed hands. For example, I was pretty surprised when Catherine's Chocolates was up for sale. However, time marches on, and folks move on with their lives, whether it's retirement, spending more time with family, fulfilling other dreams or focusing on health; nothing stays the same. I'm realizing this reality as I get older.

The Berkshire Edge recently reported that Joe Aberdale has decided to hang up his apron and sell the iconic Aberdale's store in Housatonic that his family has owned since 1961.

Get our free mobile app

Aberdale recently made the following statement about putting the business up for sale:

Owning your own family business … is not always the easiest thing to do. When we reached out to the third generation of our family, no one wanted to undertake this endeavor. I’m no spring chicken … I’m getting a little bit older here and I’ve had a few health issues in the past. Eventually the business was going to have to be sold or closed or something along those lines.

Even after the sale, Aberdale will stay on for some time to make sure things are running smoothly and going in the right direction.

Aberdale's package store has been an institution in the local community for many decades. Whether you were going there to get your lottery tickets, play keno, pick up wine, spirits or beer in time for Thanksgiving, enjoy their legendary ice cream or partake in one of their many wine; Aberdale's was one of those places that was a no brainer when it came to meeting those needs. Plus, Aberdale's was much like Cheers "everybody knows your name."

This for sure is an end of an era but we'll see how things shake out when the Patel family take the reins. Joe has experienced positive things with these folks so all should be good for the community. The name may change but the service will likely be the same hometown service you're used to experiencing.