Cos Cob Liquor, Greenwich”™s oldest alcohol retailer, has announced it is closing next month after 86 years in business.
Opened in 1933 after the repeal of Prohibition, the store at 130 E. Putnam Ave. has been owned and operated since 1981 by George A. Smith III and Maureen T. Smith. This past spring, the Smiths had contracted to sell their business to Vithal Wine LLC, which owns Greenwich Wine and Spirits and several A1 Cellars Wine & Spirits stores in Fairfield County, but the deal fell through.
In October, the Smiths posted on Facebook about their inability to sell their business because they could not “obtain the correct and appropriate documentation” from Urstadt Biddle Properties, which owns the Greenwich Commons development where the store is located, adding that the real estate investment trust “already has an interest in another tenant’s liquor store” elsewhere in Fairfield County.
Urstadt Biddle did not offer a public comment on the Smiths’ remarks.
“We will finally be retiring in a month’s time due to our progressing age,” the Smiths said in a Facebook post. “For several years, we tried to sell our business with multiple buyers under contract but sadly we were unable to do so. It goes without saying that we would have much preferred for our extremely busy business to remain operational with a new owner and jobs for our employees but unfortunately that was not possible for our family.”
