Brooklyn pork store’s closure after 55 years underscores sad exodus of beloved Italian mainstays: ‘We didn’t leave you — you left us’
NY Post
After 55 years as a tasty Italian hallmark of Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, Bari Pork Store is cutting its last slice of gabagool on Saturday, June 29.
“It feels like I’m losing a big part of my life,” co-owner George Firrantello told The Post of the impending closure of the beloved shop, which first opened in 1969 on 18th Avenue.
Firantello said he had no choice but to say ciao.
“Some of my customers coming in are devastated,” Firrantello said. “They say, ‘Oh, you guys are leaving us.’ No, no, no. We didn’t leave you — you left us.”
Firantello is referring to the changing demographics of Bensonhurst, which was once flourishing with Italian-American businesses and the clientele to match.
Just this month, right up the street from Bari, another neighborhood hallmark, SAS Italian Records, also played its final song. It opened in 1967.
