Gallant's Country Food Market sold to new owner after 98 years in the same family

Gwyneth Egan · CBC News

· Posted: May 02, 2025 7:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

Gallant's Country Food Market successful Rustico, P.E.I., has been owned by Keith Gallant's household for astir 100 years. Now it's changing hands. 

Keith's gramps Amos Gallant opened the store successful 1927 and ran it for decades earlier passing it connected to his lad George, who ran it for a fewer decades himself. 

For the past 35 years, Keith and his woman Tammy Gallant person been operating the business, which has go a staple successful the assemblage of Rustico and different communities on P.E.I.'s North Shore. 

"It is bittersweet for us," Keith Gallant said astir selling his family's store. 

"It is clip that we person to determination on. Tammy and I person been loving everybody. We emotion the people. It's been a large ambiance for us. This assemblage has been beauteous for us. But determination comes a time, and unluckily the clip is now."

Keith and Tammy Gallant said their determination to manus the concern implicit to a caller proprietor was owed successful portion to some health conditions, but they besides privation to walk much clip with their kids and grandkids, the youngest of whom was calved conscionable past week. 

"It is going to beryllium different, but we're inactive going to enactment the store. It's been successful the assemblage forever," Keith said. 

"The man who's buying it seems similar a ace bully guy." 

'I'm gladsome we made their beingness better' 

For Tammy, what makes the store peculiar isn't conscionable the products connected the shelves. 

"It's the community. It's our customers. It's the radical astir who travel in, and this is location for them," she said. "That's 1 of the harder things for america due to the fact that we volition inactive beryllium here, we volition spot them, but it's conscionable going to beryllium different." 

Since the Gallants announced the merchantability of their store connected societal media Thursday evening, determination has been an outpouring of enactment and good wishes from customers and assemblage members. 

"It's breathtaking to deliberation that radical thought of maine that way," Keith said. "I'm gladsome that we made their beingness amended by being capable to service them." 

Tammy said she feels fortunate to person had so overmuch enactment from the assemblage implicit the years. 

"We privation to accidental a very, precise peculiar convey you... to everyone who has supported america passim our clip and made moving Gallant's Country Food Market what it was for us, which was the astir singular experience," she said. 

'We ever privation to instrumentality attraction of our community' 

Although the ownership of Gallant's Country Market is changing, not overmuch other volition be, said Harish Reddy, the caller owner. 

"As of now, we don't person immoderate plans to alteration anything," helium said. "Whatever they were doing before, we are going to proceed the aforesaid happening and we volition effort to bash the best."

Existing employees volition proceed moving astatine the store, and immoderate caller faces volition beryllium joining for the summer, Reddy said. 

The store's past and what the Gallant household does for the assemblage are a fewer of the reasons Reddy wanted to bargain the store. 

"We ever privation to instrumentality attraction of our community," helium said, noting however bully the radical helium met successful the store person been. 

"We emotion our community. And immoderate you guys privation — you request immoderate help, thing — conscionable springiness maine a call. I'm determination for you guys."