ROCK FALLS – David Hoffman doesn't actually say his company – the meat distribution warehouse his father opened more than 50 years ago – is going out of business. He says it's "going through a liquidation process."
There are no signs up at Rock River Provision, 3309 W. Rock Falls Road, to announce the impending closure – customers have found out about it by trying to place orders, which were turned down.
Hoffman, 54, has worked at the shop since 1976. He has made his way through nearly every position at the company – meat cutter, salesman, truck driver – and has been its president since the early 1980s.
His family-owned business is yet another victim of the "soft" economy, he said.
"We've had our ups and downs over the years," Hoffman said, "but this is by far the deepest recession we've ever seen."
Still, he said, he knows the closure has "been coming for a period of time" – maybe a year or so.
That's about the time Hoffman went missing, for about a day.
He disappeared from his home the morning of March 5, leaving behind his cell phone and wallet. Police found him nearly 24 hours later, pedaling a bicycle on a highway in Bureau County. He's never publicly said why.
About 2 weeks ago, Hoffman told his 20 full-time employees that Rock River was going to sell what remaining inventory it had, and that no new orders would be placed.
Tom Meyer celebrated his 30-year anniversary with Rock River this fall. He has devoted his adult years to the skilled trade of cutting meat; he has been operations manager for the last couple of years.
"It's been a good run," Meyer said. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't enjoy it."
Meyer and Hoffman both said they were "keeping an open mind" in their hunt for post-Rock River jobs.
The transition won't be easy, Hoffman said.
"We have been more than just a business within the community," he said. "We feel we have been a member of this community for many, many years.
"We natives of small-town America – it's pretty tough to pull up roots and go somewhere else."
Hoffman thinks Rock River will sell through the bulk of its inventory by the end of this week. The Butcher Shop, the "cash-and-carry" retail shop inside Rock River, also will have sold most of its inventory by then, he estimated.
He thinks the remainder of the beef, pork and poultry on hand will be gone by the end of December.
By then, local restaurants, schools, hospitals and residents that have relied on Rock River for the last half-decade will have to find somewhere else to get their meat.
Rock River Provision
3309 W. Rock Falls Road, off U.S. Route 30.
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
8 a.m. - noon Saturday
815-625-1195