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| The one with Ketchup is for my son who was 10 at the time. |
I started writing this blog post over a decade ago and didn't post it at that time, however since then there has been some significant changes to Rusty's Market.
The original Rusty's Market opened in Topsham in the early 1970's and my Nana still lives just down the road from Rusty's. I have been stopping there and getting a Rusty Dog or Italian sandwich since I was a kid. As I got older I rarely left Nana's without stopping at Rusty's. I really like the atmosphere of the older store. You walked in and on the left was the register and big old awesome steamer was right there as well. To the right in the corner was an old fashion slush puppie machine were you pumped one of various flavors into the cup and then added the ice stirring the mixture, not like the pre-mix machines that exist today.
In 2012 Rusty Rancourt sold his store to the Priority Real Estate Group. The old store was torn down in 2012 to make room for the new and much bigger Rusty's Market that opened in November 2013. The lunch counter options expanded tremendously, however they still had the classic steamer with natural casing hot dogs and perfectly steamed rolls that were baked at a local bakery in Brunswick. In fact they were Italian sandwich rolls cut in half and not New England style top split hot dogs buns.
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| Getting my hot dogs from the classic steamer. |
In 2015 Rusty's Market was sold to John Koch and was rebranded as the first Rusty Lantern Market, a chain that now has over 30 locations in 4 New England States. I had no idea the Topsham location was the first!
You can read about it here: Shining a light on Rusty Lantern Markets – the New England fueling station giant with big ambition
As much as I miss the original Rusty's Market and the the Rusty Dog, it is kind of cool to see what it has become. To bad the original store doesn't even offer a steamed hot dog of any kind anymore.
As much as I miss the original Rusty's Market and the the Rusty Dog, it is kind of cool to see what it has become. To bad the original store doesn't even offer a steamed hot dog of any kind anymore.
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