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SPARKS, NV – Longtime Truckee Meadows residents still mourn the loss of businesses like Commercial Hardware, Blue Bounty and the Liberty Bell.

Sadly, we can add one more name to that list. Butcher Boy, the area’s iconic combination butcher shop and deli is closing its doors.

Locals have been coming to Butcher Boy for generations. They were drawn by fresh sliced sandwiches, the venison stew or the custom service at its meat counter. They kept coming for all those reasons.

The Butcher Boy has long been a surviving relic of an earlier era, the kind of place where the staff knows many of the customers by first names, where personal service is more than a promise.

It’s all coming to an end Monday. The Sparks store, a Rock Boulevard fixture for 35 years will close for good.

The company’s recent addition on South Virginia will also close to reopen, apparently, at an undetermined date. Owner Ken Jolly will be managing the meat department–an employee of a business he and his family built.

Jolly can trace his problems to the opening of the new store.

“At the time it was a great idea and it would have worked if the economics hadn’t have fallen through.”

Jolly says he’s tried to work things out, but U-S Bank which holds his loan, has been inflexible and he now has no choice.

“I think I probably could have pulled through with the one store, but at the request of people in Reno I opened that other store and it didn’t work.” he says.

Longtime customers were gathering at lunchtime Wednesday and hearing the news for the first time.

“This place is part of Sparks,” said Vernon Rockswold, a retired contractor whose made lunch at Butcher Boy a weekly appointment for the past couple of decades.

“It’s really sad,” says Roy Robinson. “They worked really hard for a long time, 35 years and they sell a great product. It’s just another shot at the economy I believe.”

The closure puts 35 employees out of work going into the holidays and delivers a big financial blow to a family that’s been part of the community for more than a half century and it leaves a loyal customer base without a gathering spot.

But in a world increasingly dominated by big box stores and chains it may be an indication we’re losing something else.

“Community is what we’re losing,” says Rockswold.. “That’s why we lose families.” If you don’t take care of what’s a home, you know, the country’s in trouble.”

Ken Jolly plans a big sale of all his inventory this weekend to help cover his last payroll and say thanks to his customers.