Ogden Family To Close Produce Stand After More Than 90 Years Of Business
Oct 23, 2019, 7:41 PM | Updated: 8:29 pm
OGDEN, Utah — A local produce stand is closing at the end of the month after serving the community for almost a century.
Carlo Sacco, owner of Carlo’s Produce in Ogden, said the ups and downs of the business, along with several other factors, led to the decision to say goodbye to the stand after more than 90 years.
He and his fiancee made the announcement on the store’s Facebook page Tuesday night.
“We both I think shed a few tears,” Sacco said. “This morning, when I got to work, after the announcement, we had a bunch of windmills out on our property. One of our customers must have come and put it out here after we closed.”
The online response was immediate, with hundreds of shares and comments as many longtime customers shared their memories of the family business.
“The first thing this morning, my first three customers, they all knew,” Sacco said. “They came in and shook my hand. One lady gave me a hug, and it’s just like, wow, it’s tough, it really is tough.”
The kind of personal touch you’ll get at Carlo’s Produce has become increasingly hard to find, and customers, like Carly Bailey, said that’s why they’ve been coming back for decades.
“I’ve grown up buying pumpkins, everything, from here,” Bailey said. “It’s just been a family tradition. My mom’s known the people who work here for over 50 years.”
That longtime relationship is why she, like many other customers, took it hard when she learned Carlo’s would be closing down at the end of the month.
“I’m heartbroken,” Bailey said. “I still have the two younger kids, that I need to buy pumpkins for every year, and it just breaks my heart that I’m not going to be able to continue the tradition.”
Sacco said while the produce stand has been at its Ogden location for 35 years, it has been a family business for about 90 years, spanning four generations of Carlo Sacco’s family.
Carlo’s Produce is closing after almost a century of serving the community.
“My boy went to college though,” Sacco said, smiling. “(He’s) going to be a banker, an accountant, so he’s not running the produce business. My daughter moved on and got married.”
Like many agriculture-bases businesses, he said running the stand hasn’t always been easy. Sacco said last winter was especially tough.
“I actually started up another business, laying tile for a living,” Sacco said. “That’s going pretty good, and last year, all my money went back into the business. Everything I made, went back into the produce business because the winter was so tough.”
Carlo’s Produce will shut its doors after business on October 30. Management said they are encouraging customers to support local businesses, especially Sacco’s Produce in Roy, which is owned by a relative.
