{"id":14237,"date":"2020-04-26T19:47:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T22:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=14237"},"modified":"2020-04-26T19:47:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T22:47:38","slug":"staple-of-the-community-fall-rivers-burgess-service-centre-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=14237","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Staple of the community&#8217; Fall River&#8217;s Burgess Service Centre closing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>MAIN PHOTO: Gerald Burgess, owner\/operator, of Burgess Service Centre fills up a customers vehicle with full serve. (Healey photo)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FALL RIVER:<\/strong> An end to an era will come today, April 27 when the doors are locked up one last time at Burgess Service Centre on Highway 2 in Fall River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gerald Burgess, owner and operator of the business, confirmed on April 24 that he had sold the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about time,\u201d said Burgess when asked why he decided to close. \u201cI\u2019ve been here long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What the property will become is unknown, although there are rumours in the community of what that will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;34&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;31&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burgess Service Centre has been operating for some 40-plus years under several banners. It was an independent gas retailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sasha Brideau was a customer of the gas station. Sasha said in a Facebook the news of the closure was sad and surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe old building has been standing there since before most can remember,\u201d said Brideau. \u201cIt\u2019s been through dozens of changes, renovations, and owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a staple of our community that I\u2019m sure we all just assumed would always be there, I know I did. Hell, Ricky even robbed it on an episode of the Trailer Park Boys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/EWdmSufWAAAhiZ4-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14240\"\/><figcaption>The sign says it all. April 27 is the last day of it being in business. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">VIDEO: if you need to fill up with gas you only have until close at Monday to do so. Burgess Service Centre in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FallRiverNS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FallRiverNS<\/a> is closing it\u2019s doors. It\u2019s a bit of a surprise to more than a few in the community. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FRABA_NS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FRABA_NS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RxqOPXXdmr\">pic.twitter.com\/RxqOPXXdmr<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Laker News &#8211; Pat Healey \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@ReprtrPatHealey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReprtrPatHealey\/status\/1254083694123520000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 25, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Brideau said the biggest loss the community aside from this historic building, is one of the best mom and pop shops this province has ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI worked for Gerald through high school, and then again for a bit in college. I remember him calling me across the street my first night of work to ask how I liked my steak,\u201d Brideau said. \u201cI thought he was joking. But he was not. He and his incredible wife Darlene would make us a plate of supper every night and run it across the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou always knew you were more than an employee there. You were part of the Burgess family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;47&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/EWdmSufXgAAg3qM-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14241\"\/><figcaption>The service station on a mid-Friday afternoon. (Healey photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Burgess said that the decision was in the process before COVID19 had hit, but the pandemic made the decision more at ease on his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCovid19 didn\u2019t help,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m getting out of it at this time as gas keeps going down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burgess said he\u2019s looking forward to being semi-retired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said customers have wished him well upon learning of the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re sad I\u2019m closing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the last full-serve station around here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s who I feel sorry for the most is the people who get full service, now they won\u2019t be able to get it<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sasha had a message for the community as Burgess Service Centre closes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI strongly encourage everyone to stop in for one last tank of gas at this landmark that\u2019s slipping through our fingers before the wrecking balls swings,\u201d said Brideau. \u201cJoin me in wishing the family all of the best in whatever life brings them in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLosing the old Ultramar feels like saying goodbye to an old friend, and it will surely be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;6&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;7&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MAIN PHOTO: Gerald Burgess, owner\/operator, of Burgess Service Centre fills up a customers vehicle with full serve. (Healey photo) FALL RIVER: An end to an era will come today, April 27 when the doors are locked up one last time at Burgess Service Centre on Highway 2 in Fall River. Gerald Burgess, owner and operator [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[1059,168,2],"class_list":["post-14237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-burgess-service-centre","tag-business","tag-fall-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}