CHELSEA, Manhattan (PIX11) -- A family-run business in Chelsea is celebrating 50 years in business this year with $19.74 lobster specials all week.
The Lobster Place was started in 1974 by Native New Yorkers who wanted to bring a taste of Maine to the Big Apple.
Rod and Joan MacGregor built their own wooden lobster tanks and then traveled in a used pickup truck to Maine to get the lobsters.
Joan MacGregor tells PIX11 News it was a learning experience. She remembers the time they "ran out of salt for the water in the tanks, Rod ran to the supermarket and got Iodized salt. We subsequently killed a thousand pounds of lobster because they don't like Iodine."
Rod MacGregor says "We don't give up easily!"
The couple had a storefront on the Upper West Side and eventually took an offer to be one of the first tenants in the Chelsea Market when it opened in the late 1990s.
Their son, Ian MacGregor is now the owner and CEO. He said he is so proud of his parents for successfully starting a small business, adding: "The real hard work is going from 0 to 25 years, not from 25 to 50."
The Lobster Place in the Chelsea Market will be running their $19.74 specials all week. Monday was $19.74 Lobster Rolls, Tuesday was $19.74 Steamed Lobster, and Thursday was .74 cent Oysters from 3 to 10 p.m.
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