Eagle Provisions Owners On Changing Demographics, Cashing Out & Retiring

At this point, it’s only a matter of days before Eagle Provisions is just a memory — and, unlike many of its customers, its owners aren’t exactly broken up about it.

The grocery, located at 626-630 5th Avenue on the corner of 18th Street and known for Polish sausages and a huge selection of beer, will be closing for good early next month after 36 years in business. And while we may mourn the convenience and selection, owners John and Richard Zawisny, who sold the building for $7.5 million, because, apparently, they feel they don’t really belong in the neighborhood anymore, are looking forward to a new life outside of the business. As they recently told The New York Times:

“You didn’t realize that it was worth so much more than what we bought it for,” Mr. Zawisny said on a recent afternoon at his store, where the shelves were coming down and everything was half off. “Then you start to contemplate, ‘Why am I doing this, when I could be with my family,’ and no one knows how much time we have.

“God doesn’t give you a guarantee. You could be dead tomorrow.”

Still, as their former space gets turned, eventually, into a new apartment building (on the same block as another one that’s currently in progress), it may be hard to shake old ways — Richard Zawisny is considering opening a Polish sausage shop near his Staten Island home.