• File: Luke Awtry
• Chick's Market

Chick's Market has found a buyer who has pledged to continue operating the Winooski convenience store and deli, according to the current owner.

Pam Vezina, 68, who has owned Chick's for 24 years with her husband, put the business and building up for sale at the beginning of the year with plans to retire by the summer. Joe Handy, of the prominent local real estate family, has agreed to buy Chick's, Vezina said.

"Chick's is going to stay open," she said. "They're going to keep the same name. They're running the store and the deli the same way."

Chick's has been a fixture at the corner of Hickok and River streets since the mid-1940s, giving neighborhood residents a place to buy milk and cigarettes and pick up sandwiches for lunch or dinner. The building also has two apartments upstairs.

Handy, whose LinkedIn profile describes him as president of his family real estate company, Sisters and Brothers Investment Group, could not be reached for comment. The company was under contract earlier this year to purchase Winooski's St. Stephen Catholic Church and demolish it to build housing on the Barlow Street site. Several Winooski residents organized to oppose the demolition of the historic structure.

Still behind the Chick's counter last week, Vezina said she needed to make some repairs to the property before the sale is final in August. She has met the future manager of the store for Handy and expressed her confidence that the new owners will take care of customers as she has.

"They just saw that it's really important for the people around here," she said.