The Big R — a Freshwater Road fixture for 6 decades — closing its doors for good
The Big R restaurant on Harvey Road in St. John's closed its doors for good on Sunday after 60 years.
It's the end of an era for owner Karen Lambert's family.
Her uncle purchased the property in October 1952 and launched the restaurant in 1960.
"This has been a good business for my family," she said. "My siblings … every one of us had a chance at the store, and every one of us worked at the store. Same for my kids, so we had a good run."
I got people looking to come to the house next Sunday for breakfast. - Karen Lambert
Lambert worked at the Big R for a relative for 20 years before buying the business in 2000.
Even after all these years, she's not sure what the secret to her success was.
"There's a lot of hard work to it," she said. "I'm not ready to retire, as such, but I do have grandkids that are getting older and they'd like for me to be home a little bit more."
For many years, Lambert has been at the restaurant seven days a week, prepping the food.
In recent years, she's been slowing down and scaling back her hours in preparation of closing the doors for good, something her loyal customers are sad to see.
"I got flowers and I got wine.… I got people looking to come to the house next Sunday for breakfast," she said.
"I'm not a big crier, but it's bittersweet.… I'm going to enjoy the rest of my next 20 years and see what that brings me."
The closure isn't necessarily the end for Big R patrons. The restaurant's second location, on Blackmarsh Road, remains open.
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