CORFU, N.Y. — It's the end of an era in Genesee County, as Kutter's Cheese is closing its retail outlet on NYS Route 5 in Corfu which has attracted shoppers for 75 years.
Not long after word got out, droves of customers began arriving at the store to get a last fix of the cheese curds and other popular items before they were gone and to reminisce about the longtime business.
For generations of families out for a car ride, if they were anywhere near the vicinity of Corfu and Pembroke, they often stopped in according to many waiting in a line which formed outside the store on Monday.
"I remember coming here when I was so young and I loved it," said Gabrielle Kramer of Lockport. "I was like, oh my gosh we have to go," she said, when she learned the store would be closing.
"Kutter's has been in our family for generations and it's just really sad," Crystal Karl said, who came to Kutter's with her husband and their young children in town, buying up what they could with plans to share some of it with family members who also came here throughout the years.
Co-owner Brian Bailey stood at the door to greet customers, allowing no more than 12 in at a time and said the decision to close wasn't easy but that the cost of doing business was getting overwhelming.
"You can wait until you go into a hole or you can decide okay, this is it," he said.
He said the cheese factory at the Corfu, site plans to continue operating.