Saturday, December 21, 2013

And Another One Gone


At least they ceased operation via their own choosing (owners are retiring), unlike a lot of small businesses who shuttered their doors this past year in Amherst, and the rest of the nation.

29 comments:

Helen said...

So sorry to hear this. When I worked in Amherst, I went there a lot to buy lunch. The food was delicious. Will they still be doing the catering business out of their house?

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, my family is going to starve.

They were in the perfect location, halfway between our house and Hampshire Athletic Club.

I think they are retiring from both businesses.

Anonymous said...

Catering business is gone too. They sold off all their equipment.

Anonymous said...

I spoke with one of the owners on Thursday. They are moving on to something new after many years in the catering business. They were the best in the area. Years after catering two weddings for us, our guests still talk about their food.

Dr. Ed said...

Amherst ain't what it was in the '80's and you folks are going to have to get used to it...

Anonymous said...

Can't you just see Dr. Ed as Ebenezer Scrooge in a production of A Christmas Carol?

We get "Bah, humbug" every day from this guy.

No chance he's going to give it a rest for the holidays.

Anonymous said...

How did you know? I've done that role in the play -- had great fun with it too.

But Amherst is dying and blaming me won't change that...

Amherst, RIP. Or not -- but it is dying....

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean. His latest comment is so comically tone deaf, I literally laughed out loud.

Yes, Ed, we know, we know -- some day you'll have the last laugh!

Dr Ed said...

Tone deaf -- or truly not giving a damn -- may I suggest that I very much heard the tone, and chose to ignore it.

I'm reminded of the story of the ducks swimming in a small pond that started to freeze over, and how each day they had a smaller and smaller area of open water to swim in, until one morning they found themselves frozen in and unable to move...

Of course, describing Amherst, turds in a cesspool might be more appropriate...

Anonymous said...

My mom has lived in Amherst since the 60s and continues to be an active part of the community. She is 81 years old. Amherst is her home and has been good to her. She may not agree with all of the politics, but she matters to people.

Anonymous said...

Yes Ed, we know. You keep coming back to tell us how much you truly don't give a damn. Your constant comments show how well you ignore this town....

The Evil Dr. Ed said...

Don't give a damn about what people think -- I *do* want to get it out to the world just how much Amherst SUCKS though...

Anonymous said...

Amherst is dying according to Ed. That's why there's not a single vacant space in downtown Amherst.

Anonymous said...

isn't the ground floor in the in the building next to the fire station still vacate? Years ago it had a papa john's pizza (delivery only). A Barry Robert's property. Also what the heck is happening with the Metacomet Cafe? Already a failed restaurant?

Anonymous said...

The turn over rate has been very high and I expect it to get higher. As long as the real estate kingpins try propping it up as a vibrant district there will be people setting up business. It will soon crash.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you treat your customers with worse than open contempt and they'll spend their money elsewhere. I openly laugh at the "Welcome Students" banners each fall.

They know they're not welcome and take their business to where they are. Amherst is becoming a community of retirees and welfare recipients....

Anonymous said...

Businesses, especially food establishments, come and go all the time, for many reasons. Amherst isn't dying. Every business that closes is not a sign of the apocalypse.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, someone forgot to tell all the students jamming Antonio's. White Hut, GoBerry, etc.

Anonymous said...

Amherst is becoming mostly food and services. Sure there are some good retailers hanging on but they have lost a lot. The sporting business, the record store (though more a sign of the times), automotive store, Chevy dealership. I am guessing Larry's knows of many more.

Compare Amherst to that town across the river that many thumb their nose at. It has a vibrant and busy downtown all weekend every weekend. Shopping, entertainment, food. You name they have it. Populations about the same, taxes are lower, but the demographics is a different.

I think Amherst needs to figure out how to take advantage of the student population. Work with their demographic and stop complaining about it. Get creative with all of those big brains of Amherst. Stop letting Hadley take our business away.

Anonymous said...

Yes a few business closings is not an apocalypse. However it is a sign of it being unprofitable to do business in Amherst. How many stores have come and gone in the last 10 to 20 years? A pizza shop does not make for the claim of a vibrant downtown district. Soon the word will get out that Amherst is a losing place to setup shop and a trolly will not help it. Amherst's downtown only hope is for major expansion at the University with an expansion of the downtown with a better business mix.

Anonymous said...

Can you say "property taxes?"

Anonymous said...

I can but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with this.

Anonymous said...

Ed has spent years telling us that UMass was going to abandon Amherst and move east. All that came of that prediction was a new Commonwealth College campus constructed in the heart of the UMass campus. Now he has switched to predicting Amherst will disappear, which is equally unlikely.

Anonymous said...

Such sad news; this place was great. Anyone know another place that does the same sort of business? Prepared meals to go. My kids are going to starve!

Walter Graff said...

You can't change a mindset and Amherst's mindset is small town, no problems.

Just look at the area where Amherst Brewery/Rafters is. It's the perfect spot for a larger shopping/entertainment area. More restaurants/bars/shopping/bowling... basically it's the gateway to the University and if they pushed for developing the area would be the first thing they show on the UMASS brochure. They'd call it Amherst U and it would be a vibrant and stimulating place for both the town and the Universities.

Most people would never know this town had over 20,000 kids on campus because this town doesn't want to be a college town. It wants to be the peaceful home of Emily Dickinson. Emily's dead in case no one told you and the world is progressing, but not Amherst. Ive been around here since 1998 and if you took a picture today and matched it to a picture 20 years ago it would look exactly the same. Some folks here want that so forget Amherst becoming anything.

They bought two trolleys to nowhere. Nowhere as in there's nothing to see in this town that you'd want to come back twice for. Hence why the trolleys sit most days in North Amherst collecting rust.

You can hope and dream as much as you want, Amherst is a sleepy town and it has no interest in doing anything but staying in bed, even though it has the potential to make nearly all its tax revenue from a more appropriate downtown. That's not good nor bad, all depends on what side you are.

It's easier to have all the homeowners pay for it. They like that anyway. One of the reasons some folks live here is they don't have a Dunkin Donuts in their backyard. So they like paying high taxes and buying up every parcel of land that might see someone with a lawnmower or worse come in. It's all to keep this town like the town in the Andromeda Strain. Nothing wrong with it if that's what they want. Just a bit hard to swallow when you have the potential of a huge university of kids that want to spend their daddy's money.

It works for most or it wouldn't be as it is. You can't please everyone.

Dr. Ed said...

Walter, the attitude is that the college kids will continue to spend Daddy's money regardless and we'll just hire a few more cops and erase a little bit more of the Constitution to keep milking them of it.

Won't happen forever.

Dr. Ed said...

Ed has spent years telling us that UMass was going to abandon Amherst and move east. All that came of that prediction was a new Commonwealth College campus constructed in the heart of the UMass campus

You'd have a point, schmuck, if the COMMONWEALTH was paying for it -- but look into how those dorms are being financed. Look into the increasing percentage of out-of-state students.

Look to the East and count the number of *new* state Universities that have been created -- look at the UMass expansion into Springfield & Chicopee.

Remember that there is a finite (and shrinking) number of kids to spend a vastly recession-reduced amount of Daddy's Money.

I'm not saying I'm wrong...

Anonymous said...

Yes, we will run out of kids, because nobody is making more.

Anonymous said...

The Pizza Place Next To The Fire Station Was Papa Gino's, Not Papa Johns. Papa Johns Was Next To Dunkin Donuts By The (Not So) Dead Mall On Rt 9 In Where Else, Hadley