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Date: 8/30/2022
NORTHAMPTON – Richard Cooper, whose family built and nurtured the Cooper’s Corner and State Street Fruit Store staples, announced that he is officially selling the businesses to longtime employee Mike Natale.
Cooper, a 67-year-old Florence resident, will sell the markets this fall to Natale, a 31-year-old Florence native who now lives in Easthampton. Natale has worked at Cooper’s and State Street for 17 years working in various roles until officially becoming the general manager. Natale became the right choice once Cooper’s children were not interested in taking over the business.
“I have mixed emotions because this has been my life the last 40-something years,” Cooper told Reminder Publishing regarding his feelings about the transition. “But I’m excited to be moving into this new chapter, particularly for the business.”
Cooper said retirement has been on his mind for a while, and he felt that now was the perfect time to begin anew chapter while he is physically still able too. “Mike is at a good age to take over the reins, [he] has a lot of energy, and I didn’t want to postpone it,” said Cooper. “In fact, when I first approached him about it last July … his face just lit up and he said he would absolutely love too.”
Natale told Reminder Publishing that buying the markets has been on his mind for the past three to five years, but he was hesitant to ask Cooper because he did not want to make it look like he was pushing him out.
“I’m glad he asked me first,” Natale said, with a laugh. “It was a pleasant surprise timing-wise, and it brought a lot of excitement.”
Cooper’s father, Russ, founded the family business in 1936 when he used a loan from Smith Charities to buy Bridgman’s Dairy in Florence, a small one-man operation where Russ Cooper worked throughout high school. Russ Cooper began processing milk at the dairy on 126 N. Main St. in Florence and soon bought other neighborhood dairies to consolidate them into a modern facility on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets in Florence. This was the birth of the initial iteration of Cooper’s Corner.
“When Mr. Bridgman retired, he asked my father if he could run the business,” said Cooper. “At that time, there was a lot of neighborhood dairies and one-man operations, and as other people started to retire, they would ask my father if he could take over their dairy, also.”
The more modern facility was launched in 1950 at today’s Florence location at 31 Main St. Not long after, the idea of delivering dairy was dying out as more people purchased cars. Because of this, Cooper’s father began focusing more on the retail and convenience store aspect of the business and added grocery shelves to stock other products like bread and cereal. The space transformed into “Cooper’s Dairyland” before changing to Cooper’s Corner a decade later.
In 1974, Cooper’s father bought State Street Fruit Store, which was informally known as “Charlie’s,” from the Composeo brothers and connected Douyard’s barbershop to the main building and renovated it to become State Street Deli. A few years later, the family created State Street Wine & Spirits by building on the other side of the fruit store.
Cooper and his two older brothers, Ed and Ron officially joined his father in the family business when they finished college and assumed full ownership responsibilities when their father retired in 1980.
All three brothers were active in running the store until Ed died in 1996 and Ron in 2004. Cooper has been running the store by himself since then.
At this point in time, there are 106 employees between both businesses, according to Cooper. Around 40 are full-time while the rest are part-time. “The part-timers are mostly high school and college students, as well as some retirees,” said Cooper. “Some people have second jobs.”
Cooper credits the businesses’ longtime success to Northampton’s uniqueness. “The people in Northampton and Florence really support local businesses,” said Cooper. “Because we’re smaller, we’re able to deal with a lot of small, local producers…That adds to the hometown, local nature of the store that customers appreciate.”
Natale said he is excited to follow in Cooper and his family’s footsteps and leave a legacy with his own family. “My entire family has worked here minus my mother,” said Natale. “There has been a Natale working here since 1987. For 35 years, the Natales have been working here, one sibling or another, and hopefully for the next 30 to 40 years.”
With the transition on the horizon, Cooper said he is planning for a fruitful retirement. He said he will help in a part-time role at the markets for the next four to six months to help Natale get acclimated to certain aspects of the business before officially calling it quits. Natale has had control of marketing and store displays for quite some time, so Cooper said the transition should be seamless.
Aside from the markets, Cooper is also involved in other community endeavors, holding board and advisory roles with organizations like Florence Business & Civic Association, Florence Bank, Child’s Park and Cooley Dickinson Hospital. He hopes to continue these endeavors and travel more.