'It was time': Popular butcher shop in Brantford, Ont., closes its doors after 70 years of operation

A family-owned butcher shop in Brantford has closed its doors after 70 years of operation.

Owner Doug Witteveen has been running Witteveen Meats since 1971 but decided it's time to hang up the apron.

(Meghan Witteveen/Submitted)

Doug’s family has been in the butchering business for generations so it didn't come as a surprise when Doug decided to take over his father's business decades ago.

"I’ve been on my own since 2007, and I loved it, I loved it," he told CTV News Friday.

Witteveens Meats has been a household name in the Brantford community since 1951 when Doug’s father, Harry Witteveen, first opened its doors.

"Well, he came over in 1948 from Holland, and he started to work for a butcher shop in Brantford, then we expanded our store here, we put in a nice retail store."

When he was just 17 years old in 1971, Doug bought into the business and has been making and selling his own cold cuts and deli meat ever since.

"I love the people, they come in here, and they ask me 'what's good today."'

"I wouldn’t give that time up for anything just in all the years I worked here. I’m going to come to work see my dad [and] say hi to my parents," said daughter Meghan Witteveen.

After 70 years in business, Doug closed Witteveen Meats' doors on August 12, making the tough decision to retire and sell the shop.

“This is the time, it is the time, and it sort of breaks my heart,” he said. “I’ll have to learn to take one day at a time into the new chapter.”

With Doug’s four kids focusing on their own careers, he says they weren't able to take on the business.

"I was sad, but I also knew it was time," said Meghan.

One expert says with businesses that are usually kept within a family, it is not always easy to keep them running for years.

"Succession is a problem in every business,” said Margaret Dalziel, professor at the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship & Business. “It's hard to find good people, it's hard to find good leaders and so it's especially acute in family business because the pool that you're choosing from is just a whole lot smaller."

Dalziel says this problem is exacerbated by the rate at which the economy is changing.

"You know, you go back few decades…things change much more slowly, and you had a much higher likelihood that the next generation would be interested in running the business."

While it is a bittersweet goodbye, Doug says he is happy his family will leave a legacy in the community.

"About 5,000 people wished me a happy retirement, and I feel pretty happy about that."