NEW BEDFORD — The iconic North End hot dog stand Gary’s Best Hot Dogs at 958 Ashley Blvd. will be closing for good sometime in the new year, the business announced on social media early Friday morning.
“After much thought, and after 40 years in business, total retirement is on our agenda for 2025,” the post, from Gary’s Best Hot Dogs Facebook account, reads. “With appreciation for so many years of a successful business, we will be sharing news as to what the future will entail.
“That being said, it’s extremely heartbreaking to hear of so many small businesses closing their doors after decades of service to the area. The end of an era for many.”
The news has come right on the heels of the Nov. 14 announcement that Yor Dogg Mil, at 847 Kempton St., will also be closing its doors, with ownership there referencing over 50 years of business. Other recent local food business closings have included Carmine’s at Candleworks, Mimi’s, Dough Company, and Rustico.
Final days:Another New Bedford restaurant staple set to close its doors in December
“Appreciating the memories that will live on throughout several generations makes it a bit easier,” Gary Best Hot Dogs’ post reads. “The employees over the years that become family and the customers that make the work and service so worth the effort!”
When is Gary’s Best closing?
While the post doesn’t indicate exactly when Gary’s Best Hot Dogs will close permanently, announcements of the business’s schedule over the coming months offers this much: It should still be open as of March 2025.
“We will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. … With New Years Day following, we are announcing that we will be closed the months of January and February 2025 for the winter season. Reopening in March 2025,” the post reads.
Anita Franco, who has co-owned Gary’s Best with her husband Joe Franco since 1984, told The Standard-Times a closing date “is nowhere at all in mind at this point.”
“Once we decide then it will be put out there. Lots to think about at this time of the year. That’s why in 2025 we will move forward with details,” Anita Franco said.
What’s to blame?These Greater New Bedford restaurants closed in recent months
For Gary’s Best owners, idea of retirement is bittersweet
For Mr. and Mrs. Franco, now in their 70s, Gary’s Best has been at the center of four decades’ worth of family memories.
“Contemplating retirement was difficult the past year,” Anita Franco said, noting her husband has been finding the idea of retirement “difficult to accept” as well, especially considering the four decades of memories made there as a family. “Needless to say, it’s difficult to understand where 40 years have gone.”
Gary’s Best first opened on Mother’s Day weekend, 1984, Anita Franco said. She and her husband decided to name the business after their son, Gary, who was four when it opened and grew up working there.
“At the start it was fun trying to pick a name amongst ourselves,” she said, noting “Franco’s Franks” had been one idea before settling on Gary’s Best Hot Dogs. “[I] think we made the better choice in the end,” she laughed.
Gary’s Best owner was once Standard-Times’ Man of the Year
In 2013, Joe Franco was named The Standard-Times’ 2013 Man of the Year for Acushnet. The article noted Franco’s exceptional willingness to donate to community causes, like GNB Voc-Tech’s after-prom party, Relay for Life events to benefit cancer research, and Acushnet Veterans Memorial Committee, to name a few.
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