Marty Gordon
One of the New River Valley’s longest running restaurants is shutting down.
Hale’s Restaurant on US460 in Eastern Montgomery made the announcement this past week on social media.
Hale’s was opened in 1967 by Jim and Margie Hale and had managed to remain in business with many major chains taking over the market.
The social media post said “After nearly six decades of serving this community, the time has finally come. Hale’s Restaurant has quietly closed its doors for the last time.”
This was not a decision made lightly, according to owners, and it is not the goodbye they had hoped for.
“Truthfully, we wish we could have offered a goodbye in person, a chance to pour one more cup of coffee, serve one more plate of biscuits and gravy, share one more conversation across the counter. But the time has come.”
After Margie’s death in 2001, her daughter Sandra, along with Gary and Cindy Hale, kept the restaurant running until the time came in 2013 when when the family had to make a choice between selling or keeping the restaurant. Sandra decided to move forward as the sole owner of Hale’s and has run the business singlehandedly ever since.
The social media post continued to say: “To our beloved customers: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for your loyalty, your kindness, your stories, your patience, and all of the laughter. This community has been the backbone of Hale’s through everything we’ve survived over the years, including a fire, vandalism, a recession, theft, and even a global pandemic. Your unwavering support, encouragement, and generosity is what allowed us to fight through the hard times to get back to doing what we loved most: sharing meals with our neighbors. We have always prided ourselves on the community within a community we’ve built. So many of you got your first job here. So many of you raised your kids on our pancakes. So many of you made this place, this little mom and pop restaurant, feel like home, like family.”
