FITCHBURG — There’s a large refrigerated display case with an assortment of meat at the back of the store, coolers with pies, pasta, and vegetables, and plenty of other odds and ends inside of Romano’s Market at 138 Harvard St.
But what fills the shop at the end of the day are its customers and employees, many of whom consider the iconic market a second home.
Now they are wrestling with the news that the market closed its doors Saturday, following the death of its long-time owner Mike Romano in December after a brief illness. He was 69..
“It’s like losing dad again, so much of him was in this place,” said Joshua Romano, his son. “It’s where his friends would gather, it’s where people came together to see each other. It’s our family gathering place.”
His sister, Kim Handler, said she was crushed to see the market close.
“Our meeting ground was here,” said Handler. “Every Friday night we’d come in and hang out with the family. The grandkids would come in, everybody would come in and we’d laugh.”
Sarah Romano, Mike’s wife, said she’ll always remember coming in to see her children or grandchildren working behind the counter.
“I’d know they’d be here and I could see them,” she said. “I’m really going to miss that.”
Katie Bennett has worked at the market for 16 years and said she’ll miss coming into the market every day to see her “extended family.”
“This is our safe place,” said Bennett. “You could always stop in here and be welcomed and accepted.”
The original Romano’s Market was opened by Mike’s grandfather Biagio Romano on Water Street around 1903.
According to the family, the market was destroyed in a massive fire before being rebuilt a stone’s throw away on Harvard Street in 1922.
Mike’s uncle, and then his father Armand Romano, ran the shop for several decades before he took up the mantel in 1981.
The decision to close the historic market was not easy, said Joshua, who has worked there with his siblings since they were young.
He added that it wouldn’t have been possible to keep the market open after his father passed, mostly because he put everything he had into the business.
“My dad was working 70 to 80 hours a week and only bringing home a small paycheck for himself,” said Joshua Romano. “There’s just not enough money coming in to pay a couple of people to do what he was doing himself.”
Handler said Mike Romano was the force that kept the family together, and Joshua said he was the “sun that everything went around.”
Sarah described her husband as a caring, hard working husband who had so much love for his children and grandchildren.
“Customer service came about anything else for him,” said Bennett. “He would remember everything about everybody. He would remember if you started a new job, if you were moving or had a grandchild.”
Following the news of its closing, dozens of former customers flooded Romano’s Market to say their good-byes and to pick up one last order.
Nancy Fantozzi has been coming to the store for 58 years, and all five of her sons worked there at one time or another.
“Michael was the most dependable butcher that you could ever have. He’ll be very dearly missed,” said Fantozzi. “It was just a great place to come in. Everyone here was like family.”
“He was loved by so many people, he had 600 to 700 people come to his wake,” said Sarah. “He cared about so many people and they, in turn cared about him.”
2020-02-16 11:17:30Z
https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/after-117-years-romanos-market-closes-its-doors
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