Photos by Stacie Joy
Friends and family gathered yesterday at Raul Candy Store, which wrapped up 43 years in business as I first reported.
Raul opened in 1976. The shop has been at No. 205 between 12th Street and 13th Street since 1981.
Owner Raul Santiago, 75, and his wife Petra Olivieri, 70, decided to retire.
EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by in the afternoon, where she notes there was a sad yet festive mood inside the shop. Raul and Petra's children came down from Massachusetts to help close up the shop. They gave away the last bags of free candy to a group of kids while Stacie was there taking pictures.
Several news outlets stopped by, including NY1 Noticias ...
...and some more scenes from the shop's last day...
Friends and neighbors had offered to raise money to cover rent for a year, but Raul and Petra declined, as they said "it's time to go."
4 comments:
Awwww, will miss this place and the people.
When I first moved here in the late 1970s, the south storefront was a little Hispanic restaurant, whose name I cannot remember for the life of me, but one thing I do recall is how delicious their $2 plate of red beans and rice was. They didn't last much past late 1980-early 1981, after which the north and south stores were combined and Raul moved in.
Wish someone would preserve that sign...
Some douchbag is going to keep the sign and make it a hipster bar.....ugh
Honestly, hipster bar or not, if anyone preserves that sign, I fully support it. It deserves to be saved.
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