When Brian Meador closed the doors of his Rita’s Italian Ice restaurant in Hempfield at the end of last season, he didn’t know it was permanent.

“It was very sudden,” said Meador, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Susan. “It was something we didn’t anticipate.”

The Hempfield Rita’s location in the Eastgate Shopping Center at 5138 Route 30 closed because the lease was not renewed, Meador said. He and his wife were in negotiations with the company, but “things didn’t pan out.”

Further information on what might happen with the space was not immediately available.

The couple, who ran the Hempfield Rita’s for five years, are committed to finding a new location in the Greensburg area, he said.

“I’m very saddened by this whole thing,” Meador said. “I enjoy serving the public in that area, we have an excellent staff.”

Meador hopes to have a new location secured by summer, giving them a chance to sign paperwork and move equipment. He plans on bringing as much of the current staff with him as he can.

While the new location will not open for the coming season, the goal is to open by the start of the following season, which runs from March through September. He added that he and his wife were slated to open the Hempfield location by the first day of spring this year before they found out their lease was not renewed.

Once he gets a new location open, Meador said he plans to host a similar event to when the Hempfield location opened under new ownership, which drew out about 2,000 people for hot dogs and free Italian ice.

“We really have a great following, and the people out there are great,” he said.

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