This is bad news for Park Slope foodies. The A&S Pork Store, a Fifth Avenue institution since 1948, is set to close in October. What we’re losing: a fantastic butcher, deli, and maker of prepared foods that are absolutely delicious. What is my family going to do without their Chicken, eggplant and veal parmesan.
And their breads…I love their foccacia bread, their mozzarella, their other delicious specialties.
And that’s not all: we’re losing the last butcher shop in Park Slope. The very last. And that’s patently ridiculous. We lost Great Western Fine Foods last month and now this. I was a frequent Western Fine Foods customer and noticed that they were showing the space to interested parties.
Now this.
A&S has been a fixture on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue for a long time. Anthony Scicchitano opened the business on Fifth Avenue in 1948 and eventually expanded to 26 franchises across the city.
As reported in the Daily News, the current sibling owners of A&S, Salvatore and Enzo Bonnello, took over the shop five years ago. According to the Daily News, they were told by Scicchitano that their future was secure. But Sccicchitano died 18 months ago and his daughter wanted to sell the building. The brothers can’t afford to relocate in Park Slope. Their current rent is $5,000. and the market value for other store ronts is now $12,000.
Every time I went into A&S I wanted to tell them: you can’t close this shop, you can’t close this shop, you’re all we have left. The last butcher but also one of the last vestiges of mom and pop Park Slope.
Is there some way that they can stay in Park Slope. Any one out there have an idea?
Great Lakes – thanks, it couldn’t have happened without you.
Oh, hmm, what can we do!? All fine and dandy while record shops close up to become condo leasing offices, but as soon as a place you frequent to buy pre-made meals for your kiddies is threatened, we need to get all “we will overcome”. Humph. You know what? This is what you get.
This homogenizing force will not stop. Try to save one or two of your haunts – it won’t do you any good. You move here, and you bring with you the teeming masses of “safe” and “convenient”. You move to a quirky, cute, interesting neighborhood, and invite your friends, but suddenly there’s not enough organic groceries. And where do we get quality kids’ crocs around here? And what about that shady bar on the corner, what can we do about it? Can we replace beer at the Bodegas with Mrs. Meyers soap displays? And suddenly you lament that fact that the changes you’ve brought about have cost you a place you approved of? Whoops!
Sorry, I feel nothing but sorry for all the family businesses that this force is driving out of a once-interesting neighborhood. The neighborhood has nuked the fridge, jumped the shark, and all of the color is draining from it’s face (quite literally). Those of us who made it what it was, who moved here because we liked what it WAS, not what we could turn it into, will be forced to do that once again in a new place, but without riding the wave of a house sale and six-figure bonus. And you know what? As soon as we find it, you’ll be right behind us, a dusty cloud of strollers and green recycled shopping bags always on the horizon, always reminding us that our role in society is to serve as the unwitting pioneers to your next real estate deals.
Well, you’re fucking welcome. Enjoy it while it lasts. See you in Sunset Park ’12!
This is sad and disturbing news. I wish that there was something that could be done. Please note, in the meanwhile, that there is a FABULOUS, full-service butcher shop, UNITED, at 219 PPW in Windsor Terrace just south of Farrell’s. I would truly hate to see it leave.