A farm store in Muncy Township that has operated for more than 70 years is closing.

“It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing that Wentzlers’ Fruit Farms, Market and Bakery are now permanently closed,” co-owner Karen Wentzler Woolever said in an emailed statement. “We would emphatically like to express our gratitude to our loyal customers, our friends and the community for so many years of patronage. You are the ones that kept us motivated and striving to serve you with the best products we could grow and the best bakery and fruit items from our kitchen and the best cider you could buy.”

Woolever said her parents, Lois and Joseph Wentzler, started the farm in 1953 after earning a degree from Penn State.

“He was an innovator and pioneer for many integral parts of commercial fruit growing today,” Woolever said, noting specifically stainless steel cider presses, insulation for refrigerated rooms, grafting and budding fruit trees and planting a new variety of nectarines that previously had not been grown in the Eastern United States.

“The varieties were amazing, and the crop was phenomenal,” Woolever said. “”People started enjoying nectarines just like peaches. Dad loved talking to people and learning their evaluations of fruit varieties; taste, appearance, cooking quality, storage ability. He planted new varieties to accommodate ‘a best choice for every taste bud.'”

Woolever recalled a fire destroyed the farmers’ fruit packing facility and storage in 1994, at which time they “decided to rebuild and start over.” Wentzlers added a bakery with apple dumplings and pies, among other treats, and in 2000 an outlet on Third Street to better reach customers in Williamsport.

She noted the industry and economy have changed over the farms’ 70-year run.

“Easy access to unemployment benefits and ‘free vouchers’ became readily available for the public. Hard work, total dedication and smart business management no longer was the path to success,” the emailed statement said. “Constant restructuring and accommodating government mandates and compliance suddenly dictated the ‘lion’s share’ of business focus and investment. Fruit production is extremely labor intensive. Our ability to keep going has been compromised by insufficient labor and government regulation. Hence, the ‘good old days’ are gone, and so is Wentzlers’ Fruit Farm and Bakery. I’m so sorry.”