Housatonic — Southern Berkshire County has lost another affordable place to dine, drink and rub elbows with friends.
After 50 years of running the family business, Gloria Jean “GJ” Hadsell has decided to call it quits. At the end of the day on Dec. 22, the Risingdale Cafe shut its doors, with the likelihood that the property will be sold to a health care provider specializing in drug addiction treatment.
“It’s been my life,” Hadsell said in an interview this week, having just returned to her home after moving out some things from the cafe on Park Street with her husband, John Keresey.
Keresey said a combination of factors played into the pending sale to Spectrum Health Systems. Hadsell’s health “has been an issue.” In addition, no one else in the family wanted to step up and take over the cafe — perhaps because it is a rough way to make a living in this day and age, and Keresey and Hadsell said they really couldn’t recommend it to any of their family members.
“It’s a tough business today,” Keresey said. “Years ago, it was a lot easier … Taxes, for one thing.”
But perhaps more important is the shrinking customer base. Across Route 183, the historic Rising Paper mill closed in 2007, throwing 137 employees out of work. The Hazen Paper Company now operates in the mill but it employs only a couple dozen workers and uses a fraction of the space in the sprawling complex.
Farther up Park Street, the sprawling Monument Mills complex ceased making fabrics in 1955. Portions of the mills now house offices and a dance studio but it’s fair to say that they are terribly underused by virtually anyone’s reckoning. Cook’s Garage in Housatonic has also closed and was acquired by the town in foreclosure.
“I don’t think there are too many working class people around here anymore,” Hadsell observed. “We’ve lost the mills.”
“It was a booming little town, once upon a time,” Keresey said of the Housatonic section of Great Barrington. “It was a way of life.”
The business was opened in 1970 by Hadsell’s mother, Gloria May Kenyon, known to just about everyone as “Ma,” and her husband, Bucky Kenyon. GJ took over the business after her father died in 1990. Ma Kenyon died almost nine years ago.
The business survived a fire in 1994. But the community rallied to help Hadsell and Keresey rebuild within 90 days — the exact same period of time the cafe had to reopen before its liquor license would expire.
Keresey said many bar owners have acquired bad reputations and that much of it is undeserved. But the Risingdale Cafe has been active in helping the community. Hadsell has, for example, been active in several charitable organizations, including Christmas For Children. In addition, the cafe has hosted pool and dart tournaments to raise money for children.
“If there’s a fire or, years ago we had a girl missing in the river, we’re there,” Keresey said. “She’s done more for the community than anyone else.”
Keresey said he was not sure precisely what Spectrum intended to do with the property. An outgoing voicemail greeting at Spectrum said the company’s Worcester headquarters was closed on Friday. An email from The Edge asking for more information went unreturned.
The company’s website says it offers addiction treatment services across Massachusetts, including inpatient detoxification, residential rehabilitation, medication-assisted treatment, outpatient counseling and peer recovery support.
Spectrum has 19 locations across the state, including one in North Adams and another in Pittsfield. Both of its Berkshire County locations are outpatient treatment centers.
