Thurn's Specialty Meats closing after 138 years in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Columbus butcher shop that has been serving the community for over a century will close its doors in 2024.

Thurn's Specialty Meats, which has been open for 138 years, announced with a Facebook post Monday that it would be closing its retail store, with its final day being Saturday, May 25, 2024. The store, which is located at 530 Greenlawn Ave, thanked its loyal customers for decades of support in its announcement of the closure, while also making clear that this is a bittersweet decision for the Thurn's team.

"This is a very difficult decision," the Facebook post said. "Four generations of Thurns have served the Columbus area with the finest German-style homemade meats and sausages for 138 years."

Alois "Grospop" Thurn opened a stall selling old-world style, processed items at Old Central Market on Easter weekend in 1886, marking the beginning of what would eventually become a Columbus staple. Over the years, the butcher shop has been passed down from one generation of Thurn's to another. The shop is currently run by Grospop's great-grandson, Albert Thurn.

After 138 years and four generations of service, Thurn's hopes to be remembered for its love for the community.

"We cared about what we did, what we do, because we're still doing this for another five to six months," Thurn's spokesperson Scott Huggins said. "We love the families that come in, we love to hear their stories. We did things a different way, we were personal."

While the retail store for Thurn's will be officially closed in mid-2024, the butcher shop will not be completely out of the picture.

"We're still going to continue deer processing and we're going to hold onto the building," Huggins said. "We can do some things from there if we need to. It's kind of like an open book. We don't know what the future's gonna hold, we're gonna see how things go."