New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Middlebury grocery store closing after 83 years
It is being replaced by DG Market
As he prepares to turn 70 later this year, Joe Dinova is reflecting on a professional career that hasn’t strayed too far from the intersection of Tucker Hill Road, Route 64 and Glenwood Avenue in Middlebury.
Dinova is a third generation independent grocer, operating a business that his grandfather founded near the intersection 83 years ago. But the Four Corners Grocery Store, Middlebury’s only supermarket, won’t be passed on to a fourth generation.
Dinova’s children are interested in doing other things, so he is closing the store and will lease the space to DG Market, a grocery store affiliated with discount retailer Dollar General. He will be the new store’s landlord, but he doesn’t expect to be spending much time in the small shopping center located by the banks of the Hop Brook.
“In this business, you work long hours, seven days a week,” Dinova said. “I’m not going to be one of those people who is idle in retirement. I think I’ll be able to enjoy walking my dog and playing golf
with my wife.”
His grandfather, also named Joe Dinova, started the business a stone’s throw away from where the store is now.
Before he started his own grocery in 1941, Dinova’s grandfather would take his horse and wagon to the Waterbury train depot to purchase produce and other grocery items brought to the city by train. After loading up his wagon, he would make his way along country roads in the northwest corner of New Haven County and out to Washington Depot in Litchfield County.
Joe’s father, Gus Dinova, went to work for his dad after
coming home from the Korean War. They set up shop at 564 Middlebury Road, and the younger Joe Dinova grew up over the family grocery story.
The store moved into its current 12,350 square foot location in the early 1980s, he said. Dinova currently employs 32 people, some of whom have worked for the grocery store for decades.
“The people who work for me are absolutely fantastic,” he said.
Dinova’s story telling on Friday was frequently interrupted by long-time customers who hugged him or shook his hand and wished him well in retirement. One Middlebury
resident, Rawd Zarif, fought back tears as talked about Dinova and his employees.
“It’s sad, I’m so shocked,” Zarif said, adding she has shopped at the store for about two decades. “I tell my friends and they come from all over to shop here. It’s my favorite place.”
The store is known for its cut-to-order meats, fresh seafood, fair prices and freshly made, ready-to-eat meals, other shoppers said.
DG Market is making a strong push into Connecticut, having already opened in Essex and with plans to open locations in Manchester, Litchfield and Thomaston in addition to the store in Middlebury. Company officials did not respond to calls seeking comment on further expansion plans.
DG Market’s focus is on opening in areas that are underserved by supermarkets, with populations under 20,000, according to the website dollargeneral.com.
Dinova said his business really changed after the pandemic began to abate and people started going out to restaurants more often.
“People’s buying habits changed after that,” Dinova said. “There are only 21 meals per week and some people said they were done with cooking. There are so many choices out there now to get meals from.”