The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘I’ve tried everything I possibly can’
COVID forces young owner of 106-year-old market to close
MIDDLETOWN — When Joshua Morris took over the 106-yearold Italian family market that’s been a staple of Main Street’s North End for generations, he knew it was a huge responsibility.
The 25-year-old owner of Public Market, an accountant by trade, has worked for the little grocery store at 480 Main St. for most of his adult life, and took over the business nearly two years ago after longtime owner John Passacantando died unexpectedly in August 2015 at 58.
In 1989, Passacantando purchased and revitalized the Italian grocery store, which has catered many parties and business functions. Public Market has been
open since 1915.
But Morris this week made the very difficult decision to close up shop after exhausting every effort to find a buyer, he said.
The neighborhood shop sees a lot of foot traffic from those who live in the area and need cold cuts, staples such as milk and eggs, and fresh deli items and household goods.
Morris started there at 18, slicing meat and cheese in the deli part time. He attended college, studied to be an accountant, and left the market at 22 to take a full-time job in his field for two years.
“I’m deeply saddened. It’s losing a dream you worked so hard for so long,” said Morris.
Morris said he’s usually a very optimistic person, yet can’t help but feel he failed. “I feel like I’ve let down the whole community,” he said. “I feel like sometimes people think I have a choice, like I’m doing it because I don’t want to be here. That’s not the case.
“I’ve tried everything I possibly can,” Morris said.
He’s feeling anxiety as closing day approaches. “I’m shaky. I’m on edge,” Morris said.
The pandemic drastically changed circumstances for Morris and countless other small businesses. “Up until COVID, we were making a profit. We were still in the green. After that, we slowly bled for the rest of the year,” even though Morris tried desperately to make ends meet, he said.
While other businesses have been able to remain somewhat viable during the outbreak by leveraging social media, Morris didn’t have the free time to do so, even when customers asked him. “It’s taken a toll on me in all facets of my life — financially, physically, mentally,” he said.
He recently began incorporating world cuisines to accommodate the array of people who call the city home, such as Jamaican patties and curry chicken, Morris said.
Public Market has been a favorite of the Italian population for decades.
But as time wore on, many have died or moved away with their families, and some of that tradition was lost, Morris said.
He was so committed to helping people that he personally would make deliveries to and from work, dropping off 50pound bags of flour, meat and fresh vegetables. Many of his customers don’t have transportation and rely on the bus to get to larger stores in other parts of town, he said.
The robust catering business dried up once COVID-19 hit, even though Morris was able to remain open throughout pandemic as an essential service, he said.
His lease was structured so payments would increase as time wore on, Morris said, as the landlord gave him a break as a fledgling operation.
Once employees began working remotely due to the pandemic, foot traffic greatly lessened.
“Sometimes, I have people who come here three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said.
The 14 people he was forced to lay off had been there nearly 30 years, Morris said. Now, four remain, including himself.
He’s very dedicated to the business, he said, adding that he has taken off only a little more than 10 days in the past two years, many of those holidays when the shop was closed.
About a week ago, Morris was dismayed to see a post on the “What’s Happening in Middletown” Facebook page that said he was closing — before he had even told his family or exhausted every effort to find a buyer, he said.
“It made it seem like I said, ‘let’s just move on.’ That’s the part that bothered me the most, because I work really hard here. I really do,” Morris said. “I have a passion for people and the stuff in here and to make it seem like I don’t try hard enough, that pushed me the wrong way.”
Morris has continued the tradition of an “all-inthe-family” endeavor, with his father, Victor, brothers Matt and Tom and, up until recently, his mother, Donna, all helping out at Public Market.
“I’m so blessed to have multiple family members,” he said. “There’s no way I could have made it.”
Matt Morris, manning the front register Thursday, said he’s witnessed the toll the grocery store has taken on his brother. “I’ve seen all the stress,” he said.
Butcher Jonathan Lombardo, 20, has worked in the deli for four years. “My father worked for John when he was my age — 20, 30 years ago. I knew John growing up, because my grandfather was good friends with him. They were always like family.”
When Josh Morris took ownership, “the people: I’d never seen them so happy,” Lombardo said. “Everyone was congratulating him and telling him what a big success he is. It was great.
“Business slowed down but some of the people kept us alive,” Lombardo said. “The people, they’re very grateful for what (we)do. We get thanks pretty much every other day, if not every day, saying, ‘thank you for being open all the time.’ They’re good people.”
Morris intends to donate whatever inventory remains after Monday’s closure to St. Vincent de Paul Middletown — a last effort to give back to the community that supported him, and the Passacantando family, for so long.
For information, visit publicmarketmiddletown .com.