A deal to sell Traverso's Gourmet Foods has fallen apart and its longtime owners are preparing to close the last of Santa Rosa's historic Italian markets sometime after Thanksgiving.
"I think it's safe to say the closing of the business is somewhat inevitable," Michael Traverso, a great-grandson of the market's founder, said Tuesday.
The family is still working out the details of when that might happen, he said. But George Traverso, Michael's father, said the market in the Fountaingrove neighborhood might host a big closing sale after Thanksgiving "unless something out of the blue happens."
Traverso's is still taking Thanksgiving ravioli orders and will host a wine tasting on the Saturday before the holiday for customers wishing to pair the right wines with their turkey, cranberries and other dishes.
For customers shopping there Tuesday, the thought of losing a family business dating back to 1932 was hard to take.
"I think it's really sad for the neighborhood, as well as the community in general," said John Wieneke, a Fountaingrove resident.
Traverso's was founded at the height of the Great Depression by Charlie Traverso and his sons, Louis and Rico. The family moved the business from Railroad Square to Third and B streets downtown in 1973 and to Stagecoach Road in Fountaingrove in 2009.
Citing a slow economy, the family announced plans last month to sell the market to a San Rafael couple, who planned to operate the market in a similar theme but with a different name. The sale was expected to close before Thanksgiving.
The buyers, Gursharn and Parmjeet Sekhon, said Tuesday that two issues caused them to pull out of the sale.
The couple recently learned that they would need city permission to extend the market's business hours, now 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It was unclear how long the city review might take, but such an extension could be denied if the neighborhood residents objected, Parmjeet Sekhon said in a telephone interview.
If the couple waited until the city made its decision, she said, the Traversos might need to close the business. It then would be very difficult to bring back the customers.
"They are nice," she said of the Traversos, but ending the deal "was the only wise decision we could make on our part."
At lunch time Tuesday, nearly two dozen customers were eating deli lunches on the patio outside Traverso's.
Inside, two customers buying lunch were former mayor Clement "Ting" Guggiana and friend Dick Colombini of Colombini Construction. The two men are pictured in one of the large photos on the wall from the opening of the downtown market in 1973.
Colombini, who built the downtown market, said he would miss stopping by Traverso's.
"I don't live too far away, and I like to come here for some good Italian food," he said.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: