By Bill Parry
An old-fashioned Italian bakery shut its doors Saturday after 38 years on 30th Avenue in Astoria, and at the same time a florist shop was forced to move from 31st Street after 92 years at the same spot.
As Astoria continues to grow and get younger, mom-and-pop stores are disappearing at a faster rate.
“We’ve been here since the ’70s,” Amorelli Realty’s Paul Halvatiz, who’s office is across the street from the bakery, said. “They are disappearing from the main streets of Astoria with increasing frequency because the rents are so high. We see tenants for 20 to 30 years just disappear and suddenly rents that were $2,000 jump to $8,000.”
Dozens of neighbors stopped by Frank’s Bakery, at 36-02 30th Ave., to say goodbye to Frank Roscigno Jr. and his sister Vera, who have been at the location since 1976. Their father, Frank Sr., had a bakery on Hoyt Avenue since 1959.
“We got a great offer for the place and made a family decision to close and move on,” Frank Jr. said. “This is an old-fashioned bakery and all the young people that move here eat healthier these days — everything’s gluten free.”
Vera took a short break from hugging her longtime customers to say, “Everyone’s disappointed that we’re going out of business, but times have changed and age wears you down.”
Over on 35th Street, Teddy’s Florist was forced to relocate from a location that opened in 1922. Owners Claire Patropolis and George Stelios ran it for the last 30 years before losing their lease.
“I blame realtors and corporate America,” Patropolis’ husband Dennis said during a break at the new shop. “All of a sudden they wanted to jack the rent five times to get us out so they can build condos and a Bank of America. We’re not Fort Knox, we sell flowers.”
It’s an all-too-familiar pattern for Amorelli’s Lauren Cornea.
“Franchises are coming into the neighborhood and they can afford higher rents,” she said. “Some in Astoria are paying higher rents than in Manhattan. The homemade quality that we all grew up on is fast disappearing with the mom-and-pops and that’s really sad.”
Halvatis offered another observation on a trend in Astoria.
“The original immigrants want to retire, but now their kids have college degrees and don’t want to work in a store,” he said. “More and more people who’ve been at it a long time figure they’ll just cash out.”
The Roscignos do not have any firm plans yet beyond medical.
“I’ve been working so many years with a bum shoulder, now I finally have the time to get it fixed,” Frank Jr. said.
Meanwhile, at Teddy’s Florist’s new location, at 21-75 35th St., Dennis Patropolis is dreading the fall-off in business.
“Over on 31st Street you have all the foot traffic from the subway— that’s gone now,” he said. “It’s a good thing people still get married and die so we have weddings and funerals.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
