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Date: 1/11/2022
HOLYOKE – Carol Beal opened Rusty’s Place in 2015 in memory of her brother Russell Bartlett, a former Holyoke firefighter who served the city of Holyoke for 23 years and who took his own life in 2014. Beal said she named the restaurant “Rusty’s Place” because his colleagues at the fire station all called him “Rusty.” Since then, the restaurant has become a Holyoke staple.
Beal is originally from South Hadley but views Holyoke as her second home because she attended Mater Dolorosa School and her grandmother was also a resident. At the age of 13, she began working for her aunt and uncle’s restaurant, “Heidi’s,” located in South Hadley, where she stayed on for 10 years.
Later on, she was a bakery manager for Big Y for another 10 years and ran “some convenience stores for a while.” She shared, “[A restaurant] has always been in the back of my head, and when Rusty passed away, he did leave a little money aside. So, I bought a small convenience store in Granby and called it “Rusty’s Country Store” the year after Rusty passed away.”
When she heard the location of the current Rusty’s Place was up for sale from her brother Bruce Bartlett, she visited the location and “fell in love with it” She decided to open the restaurant while keeping the store in Granby open for a few more years until it became too much to do both. She eventually decided to close the store and just focus on the restaurant.
Since then, Rusty’s Place has been booming with business with dine-in seating and take-out options. Home-cooked meals like pot roast and turkey dinners are just a sample of the affordable menu items customers can find at this favorite local eatery.
When COVID-19 struck in 2020, the restaurant remained open. Still, Beal said, “It was very rough, and there were days we only did $200, and it was just myself and another person here all day.” However, she added, “We stayed open and kept chugging along.”
Beal noted that the “community is amazing,” and said she also received cards in the mail with checks showing residents’ support a couple of times during COVID-19’s height. She said one check was for $300, with a note that said, “To keep you going...” with no name on it.
Beal said she had some staffing shortages in the beginning of the shutdowns as people were afraid to come back to work; on staff it was herself, her daughter and her son. Beal noted that the take-out business has expanded over this period, and 80 percent of employees have returned to work. During the holiday season, she explained, they were very busy.
The main impact COVID-19 has had on her business, Beal reports, is the price of take-out containers and getting products. She said the take-out container for the turkey dinner used to be $70 for a case, and now, they are $170 a case. She explained, “You may be doing a little more for business, but with the costs of goods and everything, it’s not a big change.”
She also said that “there are weeks we don’t know what we are going to get.” Explaining further, Beal shared that usually the business hosts a take-out Christmas ham dinner. “I couldn’t even do that this year because there was a ham shortage,” Beal said. This wasn’t the case in 2020, and Beal said the shortages have been occurring – for the most part – within the last six to seven months.
After being in business for five years, Beal said she sees progress and is “offering more varieties” – especially with the home-cooked meals they offer during the week. She credits this to her “really good” chefs.
Beal said they were talking about expanding their hours, but added that parking might be an issue of concern, so they are still “toying with the idea.”
Ultimately, she shared her gratitude for her customers and the restaurant carrying the cherished memory of her brother Rusty. She expressed that for the past five years, the family has had a fundraiser in October at the restaurant for suicide prevention called “Rusty’s Free in the Wind.” To her surprise – noting COVID-19 has changed fundraising – Beal said that for their 2021 fundraiser they raised over $7,000 through over 80 different raffle prizes from businesses all over. “My customers and the community help keep his name alive for sure,” Beal said of her brother. All the proceeds from the fundraiser are donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Rusty’s Place is located at 930 Hampden St. They are open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and can be reached at 437-7530. More information and updates are available at their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RustysPlaceHolyoke/.