STRATFORD – Begun by an immigrant from czarist Russia who started with a horse-drawn cart, one of Stratford’s oldest businesses has reached the end of the line after nearly 114 years.

Family-owned Hudson’s of Stratford, a third-generation furniture and mattress retailer, plans to close early next year, a decision its owner said was influenced by a range of factors from the big-box retailing revolution to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a good run,” owner Lee Helperin said. “We’re very appreciative. Customers are everything, and we’ve had long-term relationships with all sorts of people.

“The disappointment is there are fewer and fewer . . . family-run businesses. I do have a sentimental (feeling) about that in a broad sense. I feel horrible about what’s going on.”

Several

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