EVANS CITY — After 55 years on the corner of Main and North Jackson streets, Viola's Market will close its doors at the end of July.

Frank Viola, whose uncle, the late Rocco Viola Sr., opened the store in 1964, said he will retire and close up shop.

Viola said the property is currently under agreement with a prospective buyer, but he doesn't know the buyer's plans for the space.

“I have no idea what's going to happen (to the property),” Viola said. “I believe they are buying it because it's a good corner (location), but what is going to go in here, I don't know.”

Viola, who has operated the full-service supermarket since 1988, said he is looking forward to retiring and no other family members are interested in the business.

“It's a very bittersweet decision,” Viola said. “I'm going to miss the people. The town has been very good to us, but in the same breath, I'm ready to spend time with my family and slow down a little bit.”

Viola's Market has given scores of teenagers their first taste of employment over its five decades in business, and Viola will miss his young employees.

“I've met some great kids and very few have not gone on to do really nice things with their lives, whether it be professionally or just being a mom or dad,” he said. “I've watched them grow up and turn into adults (who) I'm proud of.”

He said while he decided to close the store and retire, Viola admits that running a small-town supermarket is harder than it once was.

“It is more and more difficult every year to keep the doors open,” he said.

To further facilitate his retirement, Viola sold the building that houses the Subway sandwich shop earlier this month to the owner of the business.

“It'll be nice to retire, but it's also very difficult to walk away from your life's work,” he said.

Lee Dyer, president of the borough council, said everyone on the council is sad at the prospect of losing Viola's, the town's only grocery store.

“Several months ago, they closed for 24 hours because of a structural issue, and I thought the town was going to explode,” Dyer said. “There were people standing outside wondering when they would reopen.”

He said the Viola name has been a stalwart in Evans City for so long that it's hard to imagine the town without the familiar store.

“A long-standing piece of Evans City history is going away,” Dyer said. “We're all sad.”

Dyer praised Viola for his support of the borough over the years and service to the Evans City Rotary Club programs that raised funds or completed projects for those in need.

“He is an upstanding gentleman,” Dyer said.

He said residents will now have to go to Zelienople, Butler or Cranberry Township for groceries.

“Not only is it extremely inconvenient — most of us do our shopping at Viola's — but our senior citizens at President's Square are a block away from the grocery store.”

Martha Brown, the director of grant management and resident services at the Housing Authority of the County of Butler, which operates several income-based senior citizen high-rise buildings throughout the county, said her organization already helps President's Square residents with food programs meant to ensure that the residents eat healthy.

She said the housing authority pays for a Butler Area Rural Transit bus twice a month that takes the President's Square residents to Cranberry Township to shop.

The bus normally stops at Giant Eagle or Walmart, where residents can buy food and other items.

A food bank also visits President's Square once a month, so seniors can get nonperishable foods at no cost.

The Pittsburgh organization 412 Food Rescue occasionally calls the housing authority to ask if the excess food it procures from food retailers, nonprofit organizations and volunteers could be used by any of the senior citizen residences.

Beth Herold, administrator of the county Area Agency on Aging, said family members or home health aides could help the seniors who find themselves in towns that are “food deserts” order groceries, paper products and other items online.

She said aides who work for the agencies contracted by the Agency on Aging could then pick up the groceries and deliver them to clients at the senior high-rise facilities.

Herold said the Agency on Aging can provide frozen meals to the seniors in President's Square or they could sign up for Meals on Wheels if necessary.

“And the B.A.R.T. bus can take them to the grocery store,” Herold said.

Viola said his target date for locking up the doors is July 27.

“Like I said, it's bittersweet,” he said.