After 82 years in business, the Frith family is selling off Frith?s Liquors and handing over the business to food import company Bermuda Import and Export Co. for an undisclosed sum.

The deal will be completed on December 1, and will see Frith?s inventory and assets handed over ? minus the family name.

?We think it is the right time to sell,? said William Frith Jr., who has been working behind the scenes to get the deal through.

?It is a good fit. There is no competition in the lines and most of our suppliers have been supportive of the move.?

Mr. Frith, who is managing director of Frith?s Liquor, said that over the years the family had received many offers to buy up the smallest liquor importer in Bermuda, but had not been interested until this year.

He explained that the company now had more shareholders and it was seen as a good time to exit the business.

It is not known what will happen to the family building on Front Street, which is owned by William deV Frith (Sr.), who is currently off the Island.

Of the eight or so staff currently employed at Frith?s about half are expected to move to Bermuda Import and Export, while others have been offered alternative appointments, said Mr. Frith.

Graham Fowle, managing director of Bermuda Import and Export, said that he had been looking to buy the company for more than a year, but despite being knocked back last September he persevered, and has just signed the deal.

?I think there is huge opportunity for expansion in this business,? said Mr. Fowle.

?We will manage it in house for a while, maybe a year, before looking at expansion.

?We want to really understand the business before we do anything with it.?

Bermuda Import and Export will now distribute all beers, wines and spirits previously sold by Frith?s, but under their own banner.

But while Mr. Fowle sees room for expansion in the liquor and wholesale import markets, he said he does not want the business to become the biggest in Bermuda.

?Size is not what matters,? he said. ?It is profitability.

?We want to have the largest profit, not the largest sales.?

Bermuda Import and Export was started in 1947 by Mr. Fowle?s family ? his father Robert, his uncle John and his grandfather Tucker.

It imports fresh and frozen fish, vegetables, bakery products, frozen retail and wholesale as well as cheeses, and will now be able to add liquor to its long list of goods which it distributes from its Dundonald Street location.

?The wholesale industry has consolidated greatly and we have been looking at different things and different ways of putting them together,? said Mr. Fowle, who said he had tried to break into the liquor business eight years ago, but without much success.

?But I always thought it was a good idea.

?It has been a trend in Europe for years, and I thought it would work here.?

He said that the closure of so many hotels in Bermuda had put a strain on the wholesale business, making it more keenly competitive, and that expansion was one way of keeping the business viable into the future and competing with other wholesalers.

Mr. Frith said that he was pleased that the deal had gone through and thanked the company?s customers for their support over many years.