NORFOLK — After nearly 10 years serving the community, the Berkshire Country Store will close at the end of October, ending an effort by owner Ryan Craig to sustain an independent grocery and deli in a small town where rising costs and seasonal business have made it increasingly difficult to stay afloat.
Craig, 42, announced on Facebook that the store, located at 6 Station Place, will close Oct. 31, though he said in an Oct. 9 interview with The Lakeville Journal that it may shut earlier if supplies run out. He is limiting new orders to avoid being left with perishable deli meats and other unsold inventory.
“It depends on how it goes,” Craig said. “If we run short for some reason, we may need to close sooner.”
The decision comes as another food market, Alfredo Taylor’s Food & Grocery, is planned for the historic Royal Arcanum building across Station Place. Craig said the prospect of two grocery businesses operating in a town of roughly 1,700 people adds to the uncertainty.
The proposed market is being developed by American Folk & Heritage, a partnership Craig believes has greater financial resources.
But competition is only one part of the equation. Craig described a business squeezed by rising food and transportation costs, higher minimum wage requirements, a shrinking workforce and the sharp seasonal downturn that accompanies Norfolk’s long, cold winters.
“I am not going out of business. I’m making a strategic exit,” he said.
Little room for error
Craig said the store lost $30,000 last year despite efforts to control expenses during the slow season.
Customer traffic drops during winter, even as the costs of keeping the doors open remain.
“We need to greet everyone with a smile and take care of their basic needs all the while not even making our basic expenses,” he said.
The arrival of spring brings renewed business, but the recovery is not guaranteed. The store might finally begin to make up lost ground — only to face an equipment breakdown or another unexpected expense.
“It’s like constantly kicking cans down the road.”
Working nonstop
Craig said the store began with four employees but now operates with two.
“We’re doing more with less,” he said. “It stretches people thin.”
Finding and retaining experienced workers has proved difficult. When an employee calls out sick or gives notice, Craig often has to step in himself.
“There’s never a day off for me,” he said. “That’s starting to weigh on me.”
Married and the father of two children, including a 15-month-old, Craig said he needs a more dependable source of income and a more sustainable work schedule.
He also runs a consulting business and works with National Iron Bank. He plans to begin a new job Nov. 2 but declined to discuss the position until the arrangement is finalized.
A new chapter
For Craig, the closure ends a chapter that began in his teenage years, when the Goshen native took his first job at the original Berkshire Country Store on Route 4 in Cornwall.
After the store closed under previous ownership in 2012, Craig revived it as owner in 2014. He operated the Cornwall location until it closed in 2016, then opened the Norfolk store in 2017.
In 2021, amid the pandemic, he expanded to North Canaan, opening the Berkshire Country Café on Main Street. That separate business operated for 18 months.
Across those ventures, Craig estimates he has created dozens of jobs.
“I’ve met a lot of people who have become lifelong friends,” he said. Some customers attended his wedding and celebrated his child’s first birthday with his family.
Michael Selleck, president of The Norfolk Hub, which owns the space being vacated by the store, described Craig as an “excellent business partner” and called the store a “a hub of sorts for many in the community.”
The Hub, a private operating foundation and community space located next door, was saddened by the closure and is working closely with Craig on the transition, Selleck said. The organization is speaking with prospective tenants, but no replacement has been announced.
Craig said he had tried to sell the business for six months but drew little interest. His 10-year lease expires at year’s end.
“I am leaving with the shirt on my back after 10 years of putting my blood, sweat and tears into this business,” he said. “We are going to sell out our inventory, close up and leave with our heads held high.”
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
Samir LanGusProvided
