Balducci Excess

"They priced themselves out of the market, it was hubris," said Barbara Colasanti, referring to Balducci’s, in a New York Times piece by Cara Buckley (4/27/09). "Do you really need raspberry finishing sauce? What is finishing sauce?" Barbara continued, as she picked over what little was left at the Balducci’s Chelsea store at Eighth Avenue and West 14th — one of two Balducci’s NYC locations that closed on Sunday. "People don’t need all this stuff," said Barbara. "It’s a lesson."

Not everybody felt like Barbara, though. "I’m heartbroken," said Eugenia Pickoff, who put Balducci’s right up there with Dean & Deluca. Her suggestion: "Tell Donald Trump to save Balducci’s." Wendy Pepper agreed: "It’s the saddest thing ever!" she said, before admitting that, well, maybe it wasn’t the saddest thing but definitely a shocker. "It was in full force a week ago," she noted. Balducci’s had, in fact, become a New York fixture since Louis Balducci opened his first store there back in 1946.

Louis later opened to what became the Balducci’s flagship on Sixth Avenue in 1972. That era effectively ended in 1999 when Sutton Place Gourmet bought Balducci’s for $26.5 million and started opening or rebranding other stores as Balducci’s. Also being shuttered are stores in Washington DC and Ridgefield, Conn., leaving a total of six. Debbie Shockley, who worked at the Chelsea store says some customers aren’t taking it well, but need to get a grip. "The customers keep asking, ‘Where are we going for lunch?’ But what I want to know is, where are we going for jobs?"