NORTHAMPTON — For the last time, just after closing Friday, the flag outside Serio’s bearing the emboldened “OPEN” had been taken inside.
The music blared — “Don’t Stop Believing,” no less — while staffers and shop regulars cracked open beers and sipped red wine from disposable soup cups as they bid farewell to the 115-year-old mom-and-pop business.
“It ain’t right,” a man said, sipping his wine as he looked to people congregating around the deli counter.
The day Serio’s owners and managers acknowledged they thought would never arrive was upon them. The beloved State Street store was closing its doors for good. Inside, only a select number of pantry items and groceries dotted the shelves. The shop’s closing be damned, General Manager Jaimie Golec ushered folks into the store with enthusiasm.
“Come on in,” she said from behind the deli counter, “have a drink.”
“In another half hour, we’re turning that music up, you know?”
Serio’s was founded in 1902, when Joseph Serio began selling fruit and vegetables from a cart on the streets of Northampton. The State Street store was built in the late 1940s. The closing of Serio’s Market doesn’t affect the neighboring Serio’s Pharmacy, housed in the same building, which remains a thriving business, according to John Serio, the grandson of the founders.
“Everybody has their own story about how Serio’s, you know, was a part of their life and what it meant to them,” Golec said. “Stores like this, where you come in here, and it serves as a meeting place and a gathering of people that live in town, and they can talk and they can converse and — they just know each other, and it feels good. And that’s what I’m going to miss the most.”
Since owner Gary Golec’s wife, Christina Cavallari, died in 2014, the shop had fallen into dire financial straits. A wholesaler filed a complaint in Hampshire Superior Court last fall, alleging the group had failed to pay $32,349 to Bozzuto’s Inc.
November’s revelations of financial strife prompted community efforts to save the store, including a “cash mob” event hosted by the Northampton Radio Group in January that encouraged customers to patronize the business, as well as a GoFundMe page set up for contributions.
Earlier Friday, at the deli counter shortly after the store opened for the final time, Cindy Zielinski compared the final day of business for the institution to the passing of an acquaintance.
“To see it go away is really heart-wrenching,” said Zielinski, holding a package of New York strip steak as she waited for an order of cheese and bologna to be sliced. “I would call it the death of an old friend.”
With light snow falling outside of the State Street store, Zielinski was one of a handful of customers who arrived shortly after the open flag was displayed at 8 a.m., making her nearly daily trip from the neighboring Michael’s House.
Zielinski described feeling a “sweet ache” as she realized she and others will now spend more time traveling to and from supermarkets to get some of the same items they pick up at Serio’s.
“I can’t even tell you how hard it is to think we’re saying goodbye,” Zielinski said.
Steve Vukovich, who lives four blocks from Serio’s, came in Friday only to pick up a copy of the Gazette, but, like Zielinski, understands the store’s importance to the community.
“We just feel terrible about it,” Vukovich said. “It’s convenient and friendly and it has products like potatoes that are better than anybody’s.”
And, he added, Serio’s make the best sandwiches for lunch.
“It’s a tragedy, but what are you going to do,” Vukovich said.
For the past two years, Debora Colon, of Florence has worked at Serio’s. Colon was blunt discussing the closing as she rang up orders at the checkout counter.
“It sucks to see this go,” Colon said. “It’s such a friendly place and I’ve become really close with a lot of customers.”
Many of those customers, she said, have been reflecting on the store’s history. It makes her “tear up,” Colon said.
Taking a semester off from college, Colon said she anticipates continuing her psychology studies later this year. For now, she will miss the customers, her colleagues and the store’s owners, Jaimie and Gary Golec.
“They treated me like family since day one,” Colon said.
The market will also be open Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for those interested in purchasing a piece of Serio’s memorabilia.
Money from the sale will be used to help pay off local vendors.
“All of the people that have been here every single day, and all the people that I’ve met … the experience itself I’m so thankful for,” Golec said. “No regrets at all. It’s going to make me a better person to have known all of them, so I’m just thankful for that.”
