Paul Dunkling confirmed that he and his older sisters — Janice Clark, Deborah Addis, Karen Fortin and Mary Pike — will close the family’s Ray’s Seafood Market at 7 Pinecrest Drive in Essex on September 12. Dunkling, 58, said he and Clark are the current hands-on owners of the third-generation business founded in 1949. “It was just time for some of us to retire and move on,” he said of the decision.
Dunkling said that no younger family members were interested in carrying the 75-year-old retail business forward. “It’s a different world,” he said. “The fish business is very hands-on and demanding.”
He did leave the door open for the wholesale business to continue in some form: Ray’s has historically purchased lake fish from anglers to resell to restaurants around New England. Dunkling and his sons, Brian and Adam, will continue to run their fishing boat charter business, Sure Strike Charters.
Ray and Mae Dunkling, grandparents to Paul and his sisters, started Ray’s with one truck that hauled lobsters from Maine to Vermont. They expanded their distribution operation and opened their first store in Burlington’s Old North End in 1951. In 1959, their son Reg and his wife, Hazel, took over Ray’s, which they eventually handed on to their five children.
In 1994, the Dunklings moved their retail store to Essex and opened a year-round restaurant, which was known for its seafood baskets, including fried Lake Champlain perch filets. In the closure announcement, the family thanked patrons and reminded them to redeem any gift certificates.