Shiretown Meats, the popular, long-established butcher shop in Edgartown, is listed for sale with an Island real estate agency.

Owner David Vaughan opened the Upper Main street business in 1982, serving a steady clientele of Island residents and summer visitors everything from grass-fed ground beef to prime rib eye steaks to submarine sandwiches from the small meat counter.

Mr. Vaughan closed this month as usual, when he and his staff normally take a vacation. Speaking to the Gazette Monday, he said he is unsure whether he will reopen the store in March.

In a statement, Mr. Vaughan thanked his loyal customers, and his family.

“It’s not easy to build a business,” he wrote. “It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice on the part of a lot of people. If not for my wife, Ann, and our three children, Mike, Amy, and especially Dan, the business would not have ever gotten off the ground. Daniel worked at Shiretown Meats for 20 years.”

Mr. Vaughan 72, said he is still working 60 hours a week when most people are retired and he felt it was time to turn the page and do some other things.

“For instance, every year I get a derby pin, and never wet a line,” he said with characteristic humor. “Dan would also like to try other things. I wish him good fortune, good luck, and great happiness. After 57 years of cutting meat, I plan on taking a little more time for my wife and family.”

In a 2015 interview, Mr. Vaughan said he began in the meat business at the age of 14. His only formal education in the trade was enrollment in a meat-cutting school in Toledo, Ohio. When he returned from school at the age of 19, he got a job as the manager of the meat department at the A&P grocery store in Edgartown. After a few years on the job, he and his wife decided to begin their own business.

“So I quit working for the A&P, and went out on my own,” Mr. Vaughan told the Gazette at the time. “Of course it’s pretty scary when you’ve got three little kids.” He said he never allowed himself to “mud wrestle” with competitors. “You’ve always got to be good at what you do, and carry the very best, and people will seek you out.”

Mr. Vaughan is already making retirement plans. He said he hopes to establish a meat-cutting class either in the Island’s adult education program, or at the regional high school to pass on some of his skills.

In a listing with Anchor Realty of Oak Bluffs, the business is being offered for $550,000, including all inventory, Shiretown Meats related names, recipes, logo and good will.

The price does not include the building, which Mr. Vaughan leases.