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Rossi Pasta holding going out of business sale

Photo by Janelle Patterson Cort Thomas restocks pasta sauce at the Front Street store of Rossi Pasta as the going out of business sale continues for the small business.

MARIETTA — With product flying off the shelves, a local brand is set to close its specialty store by the end of summer.

Rossi Pasta, known for its artisan flavors and eccentric combinations of linguini, fettucini and other hand-hung pastas, announced its going out of business sale.

“Legally we have that sale running for 45 days or until we’re out of stock,” said Cort Thomas, general manager, as he moved back and forth between the warehouse and the retail shop on Front Street Monday.

On Facebook, comments on the announcement including heartbreaking, disastrous and horrible, but also drove customers into the Front Street retail store.

That’s why Betina Lang made sure to go with her daughter Madison Monday to grab enough pasta for gift baskets for St. John’s Central Catholic School off Ohio 676.

“We love this pasta and have a very generous principal who does gift baskets for all of the teachers,” said Lang. “So we had to come in and get 28 of everything, the pasta, the sauces and herbs.”

Lang and her daughter were aided by Thomas as they carried boxes of the goods to their car.

“We’ve been restocking the shelves like crazy since the sale posted,” said Thomas. “And the website is selling out of things quickly.”

He said the business decision, made by Christy & Associates came just a month after the business was posted for sale.

“We’re getting into the time of the year where the business needs a huge influx in cash to support gathering the materials and paying for the labor to prepare for the holiday season and build up our stock by October,” Thomas explained. “It’s a hard business decision, but we’re not comfortable supporting that investment when we’re not profitable enough to get a return on it another year.”

The company was founded in 1981 in Athens and was brought to Marietta in 1986. By 2000, Christy & Associates had full ownership of the business.

“We had conversations with several interested investors and potential buyers but didn’t come to an arrangement on the sale,” said Thomas.

Janelle Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.

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