Iconic ice-maker Crystal Industries, which has been cooling the palates and perishables of Bendigonians for more than eight decades, will close next year.

Crystal Industries chief executive Richard Guy yesterday announced the closure of the Garsed Street institution - which his family has run since its beginnings in 1923 - following the completion of a deal to sell the land.

Mr Guy said he was bound by a confidentiality agreement about the purchaser and price of what he estimates to be more than three hectares of land backing onto the railway line.

"This issue was precipitated when we received an unsolicited offer that we decided was too good to refuse," he said.

"We didn't have any idea what the property was worth."

He said the Garsed Street business would be wound down after the 2007-08 summer, and would complete orders in March before closing in May.

He said he was undetermined about the future of the trademark business Chilly Billy Ice, which supplies 240 outlets across central and northern Victoria, but the company would make every effort to meet the needs of its 25 staff, including 19 full-timers.

Mr Guy said the business had come a long way since the first block of ice was delivered to a Queen Street butcher by motorcycle sidecar in 1923.

He said it went from its boom period when people were without domestic fridges to new business in industrial ice in the 1950s until taking on the Chilly Billy Ice Trademark.

"The ice business has always had to reinvent itself," he said.

The company has grown over the years, not missing the chance to pick up land from the adjoining railway shunting land.

It has also seen the neighbourhood change, including the development of the adjoining Marketplace.

Changes haven't prevented the company from churning out about 15 tonnes of ice a day and providing ice for a wide region of Victoria reaching from Charlton to Kilmore.

A community stalwart, Mr Guy is a recipient of the Order of Australia and former Chairman of the Bendigo bank for more than 20 years.

"There are enough things about town for me to do something," he said.