EASTHAMPTON — Corsello Butcheria has closed its Cottage Street location after nine years in business, but Easthampton and Pioneer Valley meat lovers will still be able to get their favorite cuts from Corsello through a new business model.
Vincent Corsello, co-owner of the butcheria with his wife Kasey Corsello, of Easthampton, have been serving full cuts of cow, chicken, pig and other animals for nearly a decade at the 130 Cottage St. shop, right at the turn of the city’s downtown area.
As sad as the Corsellos are to see the shop go, with its last day of service on April 11, Vincent Corsello said the kind of business he offers — which prioritizes fresh, local meats while maintaining a community-based “small business feel” — was no longer sustainable.
“The kind of retail butcher shop, as much as it can be successful at certain times of the year or under certain pretenses, it just isn’t really sustainable,” he said.
Walking into Corsello’s with a recipe in mind, customers may have a specific request for a certain cut of beef or type of sausage, but also may not know what they need at all. Whichever it is, Vincent Corsello said it’s part of his job to help people figure out what’s going to give them the best meal.
“There’s this symbiotic relationship happening,” Vincent Corsello said about his relationship with customers. “You know it’s not all about transaction and that’s what I want to do with the food too. You don’t always get that with a grocery store.”
The Corsellos, however, will continue to offer one-on-one interaction and fresh, local meats at The Urban Food Brood, a “collaborative kitchen” in Springfield that includes multiple food and artisan related vendors. The kitchen, originally opened in July 2023, is located at 250 Albany St.
“It’s not just food at this point, it’s a gathering place ultimately,” Vincent Corsello said about the Urban Food Brood. “You might go in, order food and there’s lots of tables and vendors so while you’re waiting for your food, you shop.”
Urban Food Brood has limited hours, open Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
But that’s not the only way customers can get Corsello’s cuts. The couple has launched a “meat-share” service, a subscription that allows customers to pick up a variety of meats from several locations.
“We will still have a nice little counter service for people who want to come in and see the ground beef ground up, and then we can offer these subscriptions,” Vincent Corsello said.
For $220, subscribers can order up to 10 pounds of different meats including ground beef and pork, steak, sausage, chicken and more, and can change and customize their order after the first two pickups. Easthampton residents won’t have to travel far, with pick-up locations at the Easthampton Farmers’ Market, Tip Top Wine Shop, the Urban Food Brood and the Farmers’ Market at Forest Park.
“It’s very exciting,” Kasey Corsello said about the new subscription. “Change is hard and change is scary — this is a home to us. And yet it’s kind of letting go of something in order to make room for something else and we’re not leaving the Easthampton community.”
Kasey Corsello works as a leadership and business coach, with skills that cater perfectly toward owning a business. She said the shift in model will allow them to simplify while still offering local meat.
The “small business” philosophy was instilled in the Corsellos while living in Italy. Looking for a life change, Vincent Corsello moved to Italy in the early 2000s followed by Kasey shortly after, where they stayed for more than a decade.
“We would go to the market in Testaccio (in Rome) and we were good friends with the butcher there,” Vincent Corsello said. “We would go once or twice a week and learned a lot about food.”
When the couple returned to the United States in the early 2010s, Vincent Corsello said he was laid off from his job in software project management and recalls Kasey saying to him, “Now you can open up your butcher shop.”
He then went back to Italy for a summer to study butchery with a friend that lived there. For Vincent Corsello, cooking is about using the ingredients you have on hand in your fridge and cabinet to make a meal, he said. That cooking-style aligns closely with the way Vincent and Kasey Corsello have run their business, working with what you have and taking opportunities when they come.
“It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition, but eating locally makes a lot of sense,” Vincent Corsello said. “Not just from an environmental and sustainability point of view but also from a community point of view.”
