WILLIAMSBURG — A longtime local business is packing it in.
After 43 years in business, Bacon’s Package Store and Gas Station, located at 27 Goshen Road, will close for good on Friday.
Storeowner Paul Bacon, 64, said that he had been planning to close the business for some time.
“We knew we would need new gas tanks, and it’s just not economical to put them in,” Bacon said. “And I’m too old to do it myself!”
According to Bacon, the underground gas tanks were installed new 30 years ago but have reached their expiration date and must be removed.
Without installing new gas tanks, it was not feasible to keep the store up and running.
Bacon said that the building has a newly renovated apartment upstairs that he will be renting out.
“If someone wants to rent the whole thing, live there and run their own business, they can do that too,” he said.
The store is located right next to Bacon’s other business, “Bacon’s Equipment,” at 29 Goshen Road, which sells agricultural and construction machinery. That store will remain open for business.
“It’s sad that it is closing,” said Town Clerk Brenda Lessard. “He has been there for so many years, and for a long time, that was the only place to get diesel without having to go to Northampton.”
As for Bacon, he said closing the store is not going to effect him that much, as he and his late wife Shirley Bacon, who passed away two years ago, had been anticipating and planning the closure.
“It has been the plan all along,” he said.