The owners of the Second Street Emporium, Scott and Candy Rector, initially announced their retirement and the business’s closure in a post on their Facebook page Tuesday.

“After 42 years in business, we have decided to hang up our aprons,” the post stated. “June 30 will be our last day in business. Retirement has been in the back of our minds for a bit, but this has come up more suddenly than we anticipated. We have QUALITY help, we do not have the QUANTITY of help … which has led us to the decision that we might as well figure this retirement thing out.”

“This has been our life for 42 years,” he said. “My daughters, this is all they’ve ever known. They said, ‘Dad, this is part of our family.'”

The Rectors purchased the building and put their own touches on the new restaurant. Bits of Webster City nostalgia decorate the walls, with newspaper clippings and photos documenting important moments in the community and the nation. They opened the doors in February 1980. A few years later, they created the iconic Quarry Room on the lower level, providing a space for parties, banquets and meetings. In 1990, they expanded, purchasing the All-American Sports store to add additional seating upstairs.

Since the beginning, the Second Street Emporium — or just the Emporium to locals — has served as a popular downtown lunch venue with an extensive and diverse dinner menu featuring steaks and seafood, their signature cheese soup, and a variety of sandwiches and salads.

The business that started in the midst of the farm crisis, high gas prices and soaring interest rates thrived in the community and proved its resilience once again in 2020 as the pandemic closed many businesses across the nation.

“We made it through the pandemic. We offered carryout meals. We got through it,” he said.

And once the business was able to open again to full capacity, their patrons flooded back in.

That hectic pace of the busy restaurant was part of what prompted the decision to close, Scott Rector said. His “right-hand man,” Mike Gemmel, a 39-year employee, is moving on.

“If it wasn’t very busy, I could maybe get along in the kitchen by myself until someone comes along to buy the place,” he said. “But it’s too busy, I just can’t do it. We’ve got great employees … we just don’t have enough of them.”

The restaurateur has mixed feelings about retiring.

“It’s hard to let it go on one hand, but I’m tired. It’s time,” he said. “It’s a shame, because here we’re closing up a viable business. It makes money and we’re busy. But everything has to come to an end.”

He said he plans to leave the restaurant intact — ready for the next owner to step in.

“All the equipment is going to stay. So it still will be a turn-key business,” he said. “Someone could walk in the next day, put in inventory and start right up.”

Customers who have gift certificates can use them at the Emporium through the closing night. After that, gift certificates that were purchased after Jan. 1, 2021, can be redeemed at other Webster City establishments.

Between July 1 and Aug. 1, people can use the gift certificates at The Links, Leon’s Pizza, Mornin’ Glory, the Seneca Street Saloon, the Lunchbox Market or the Gridiron Grill and Sports Lounge.

“We didn’t want to leave the customers high and dry,” he said.

The people are what Scott and Candy Rector say they will miss the most as they retire.

“I’m going to miss the people I work with,” said Candy Rector. “That’s what I’m going to miss the most. Some have been with us for a very long time. They’re family.”

And of course, she said she’ll miss the customers they’ve come to know through the past four decades.

The Rectors said they’re not sure what retirement will look like exactly. They hope to travel a bit and spend time with the kids and grandchildren.

“I’m lucky enough that I get to go to my grandkids’ ball games. But it’s going to be fun to go with Scott,” she said. “It’s going to be nice to have Scott around to do stuff like that.”

The Rectors said they are grateful to the community and its residents that have supported the business since 1980.

“We want to sincerely thank Webster City for making our business such a success,” the Rectors said in their Facebook post. “We’re proud to be from such a great community. After 42 years of making this our life, it’s just too hard to put into words our gratitude and thoughts.”