Brooklyn pork store’s closure after 55 years underscores sad exodus of beloved Italian mainstays: ‘We didn’t leave you — you left us’

By Rob LeDonne

After nearly 56 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 opened in 1969 on 18th Avenue.

Firrantello 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.”

Firrantello 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.

“These days, there’s just not enough customers coming into the place,” Firrantello said of his exit after running Bari for the past 26 years alongside partner Tony Turrigiano, the latter putting in 37 years of pork-store service.

“It feels like I’m losing a big part of my life,” co-owner Firrantello told The Post of his beloved neighborhood business.

“It means a lot to me that the store has meant a lot to a lot of people. I know kids who came in who now have kids of their own,” Firrantello said. “We’ve fed a lot of families over the course of the years.”

But an exodus of customers isn’t the only headwind Firrantello has fought.

“Running the store has just gotten more expensive, between the rent, electricity, insurance, payroll tax, and so on and so forth,” he said.

Their heartbroken landlord even offered to reduce the rent to keep the store in business.

“But it still would have been too high,” said Firrantello. “In my head, I’m saying, ‘How much could you reduce it? $500? What would $500 do for me?’”

The partners also looked into selling the business. But according to Firrantello, “Nobody was really interested.”

That underscores a big shift for the area.

full story and pictures at https://nypost.com/2025/06/24/lifestyle/brooklyn-pork-stores-closure-after-55-years-underscores-sad-exodus-of-beloved-italian-mainstays-we-didnt-leave-you-you-left-us/

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