Sole post office in Preston at risk of closing: owners

A contract postal unit inside a convenience store in Preston is at risk of closing, owners tell NBC Connecticut.

Preston Market, which has been in business for decades, was recently purchased by business partners Don Costello and Butch Gauthier.

The men said they came out of retirement to save the market, and since purchasing it in the spring, have fielded questions left and right from customers about whether or not they’re keeping the postal unit inside.

The postal unit is the only one in town and is convenient for people who don’t want to visit post offices in neighboring towns.

“The post office was the biggest community thing that people wanted. It’s a lot of local business people who use this post office 'cause they can get in and out quick,” Costello said. “One gentleman came in today with 15 packages. That’s pretty typical.”

But since April, they’ve been dealing with the headache of changing hands. The postal unit is still in the name of the former owner, and Costello said it’s been impossible to get around the ‘red tape’ of getting the postal unit in his name.

“We started April 22 of this year to try to get that done, and have not yet been able to get the license for it,” he said.

Local postmasters have been helpful, he said, but he’s been tossed around to U.S. Postal Service workers all over the country in recent months.

“Once it came out of the local area, it just got crazy. 25 telephone calls, emails all over the place, nobody knew what to do,” Costello explained. “Somewhere along the lines, there’s some miscommunication. People at the post office right now are working diligently to try and get this done. As of today, it’s not done.”

He said he first was told that ownership would need to be transferred, but now he’s being told it’ll be a completely new contract. Currently, to make the business run, the former owner has to purchase supplies from USPS since Costello and his partner can’t.

“This morning he bought stamps for us,” he added. “$760, so I paid him $760 for stamps this morning.”

He fears if this isn’t resolved by September 30, the service will be no longer.

“If we can’t get that put in our name by September 30th, it’s not us closing it, it’ll be the post office closing it,” he said.

When residents got wind of this struggle, Costello said they called local and state leaders to get their help, including U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

“They wanna save it big time. Even the people that come in and just drop off one letter are enraged at the fact that it might close,” Costello said. “If it was just a business decision and the community didn’t care, that counter would already be gone. I would already have the breakfast sandwiches over there. I’m not doing that because the community is so entrenched in coming to this local place.”

A spokesperson for USPS said in a statement to NBC Connecticut, “The Postal Service is working directly with the customer to ensure service is not interrupted.”

The spokesperson added that there will be no lapse in service at the Preston CPU.