After decades of serving the Pontiac community by way of his Langford’s grocery store franchise, Mazhar-Iqbal Dar, better known to the Pontiac community as Tony, is starting to step away from the busy life of running two businesses.

Dar has sold the Langford’s Grocery in Campbell’s Bay to his long-time employee turned trusted business partner, Jarod Croghan.

“I’m retiring technically, but I don’t think that is going to happen,” Dar said, explaining that although he is ending his chapter in Campbell’s Bay, he still owns the Langford’s Grocery in Shawville and will continue his work there.

Sitting at a table in the Campbell’s Bay location, Dar admitted he is reluctant to say goodbye to the store.

“They’re great people in Campbell’s Bay. Of course, you don’t want to leave this place at all, I don’t want to leave this place.”

Dar first moved to the Pontiac region when he bought Langford’s Grocery in Shawville back in 2005. That’s where he first met Croghan, who he hired as a teenager to work at the store.

Dar said he always saw the potential in Croghan.

“He started working for me, and he was a really hard working guy when he was a kid,” Dar said. “He showed me the potential. He was freaking hardworking. And he still is.”

For Croghan, Dar was a mentor.

“I’ve always found somebody that knows more than me. And then I latch onto and learn everything from them,” Croghan said.

The two developed a relationship working together, with Croghan working his way up to become a manager at the store, and eventually a business partner.

“We became good friends over time,” Dar said. “We bought the Otter Lake store together.”

In 2016, after four years of owning the Otter Lake store, the business duo decided to close it, and Dar purchased the new location in Campbell’s Bay.

With the help of Croghan and his family, Dar has run the Campbell’s Bay store for the last eight years.

“I love that place, I love those people, they’re family to me,” Dar said, adding that many people had approached him with offers to buy the Campbell’s Bay Langfords, but that he was never willing to sell it.

However when Croghan offered to purchase the store from him, Dar knew that he was the right person to take over the business.

“He’s the person who can run it. He’s the man who can make a difference,” Dar said. “I have full confidence in him.”

Croghan hopes to improve on what Dar has built in Campbell’s Bay while also keeping things familiar for people in the community.

“It’s pretty good as it is. I’ll just try and expand on the menu, maybe offer delivery soon, and just kind of work off what he [Dar] built,” Croghan said.

“The Langford’s legacy lives on.”

Tony Dar is selling the Langford’s Grocery store in Campbell’s Bay to Jarod Croghan, a long-time employee and business partner, who will continue to run it. From left, Croghan’s wife Samantha Beauparlant with daughter Harper Croghan, Jarod Croghan, Tony Dar and his wife Gabriella Rochon.

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