The doors of Fairview Beverage in Jim Thorpe will close for good after one final day of business Thursday, but owner Salvatore Baldassano isn't about to let the lasting memory be one of doom and gloom.

Though he's now living his professional dream as a remote stock and commodities trader with LGC Capital Advisors, Baldassano wants his customers to know the decision to move on was not an easy one."I just want them to be able to see me out and about and say hey it's disappointing you had to close, but I understand," he said Wednesday.Baldassano, a Montgomery County native, bought the existing beer distributor in July 2005 after working as a corporate controller."I wanted to get out of corporate America and become self-employed," he said.Early on, business was booming, something Baldassano credited to exemplary customer service and an aggressive marketing campaign.In 2010, the tide started to turn starting with personal strife.Baldassano's wife filed for divorce and he felt his passion for running the business slip away.A trend within the beer industry didn't help."We had been supplying restaurants in Carbon and Luzerne counties with their beer," Baldassano said. "Then restaurants started going straight to the suppliers who we were getting our beer from. There was never that direct purchasing before and that really killed our wholesale business."Add in growing competition through six-pack stores and other beer distributors and the writing was on the wall come 2013.Baldassano decided to go back to school, earning his Master's Degree in investment financing from August 2013-August 2015."My life's career goal was to become an analyst trader," he said.He interned in Miami for several months as an equity analyst earlier this year, leading to his position with LGC Capital Advisors. He now works from home."Financially, it just didn't make sense for me to keep the distributor."Efforts to sell the business have been so far unsuccessful. Several potential buyers didn't pull the trigger."There have been varying reasons why nothing has worked out yet, but I know that someone is going to come along and buy the building and turn it into something beautiful," Baldassano said. "It might be three months or three years, but it will happen."Fairview Beverage will be open until 9 p.m. tonight.