By James Lomuscio
After 45 years, Westport Pizzeria is moving from Westport’s Main Street. But not far. Just up the street and around the corner to Post Road East.
Westport Pizzeria, 107 Main St., as it looked Saturday night, little changed since opening in 1968. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Heartfelt memories and emotions welled up among staff and longtime customers Saturday night at the iconic pizza emporium as news about the move spread. The last slice at 107 Main St. will be sold on Sunday, Feb. 23 and the grand opening at 143 Post Road East is set for Saturday, March 1.
Owner Carmelo Mioli, known as Mel to generations of Westporters, was there, too. He has seen this coming for some time, but nostalgia for him nevertheless runs deep. While the change is bittersweet, he remains upbeat about the new location.
“The advantage is that it’s my building,” Mioli said about 143 Post Road East, opposite the old post office, which he purchased for $812,500 in 2011. “I can fix it the way I want without answering to the landlord. There’s no lease to sign, and we don’t have the insecurity of not knowing if we will have a new lease.”
Eatalia, which has most recently occupied the building, has moved out—Mioli said he bought out its 10-year lease—and the premises were dark Saturday night.
Mioli said that he purchased the building because it was uncertain if his Main Street landlord, Malkin Properties, would renew his lease.
Owner Carmen (Mel) Mioli: “The advantage (of the new location) is that it’s my building.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Malkin is owned by real estate billionaire Peter Malkin of Greenwich (U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s father-in-law), who also owns the Empire State Building. Malkin bought the building housing the Pizzeria, Franciois DuPont Jewelers, and the now closed Kate Spade in 2006 for $8.2 million or $1,955 a square foot, at the time an apparent record for the street. (See WestportNow Nov. 2, 2006)
Mioli said that after he purchased the Post Road building, his new landlord encouraged him to stay by lowering his rent from $11,000 per month, including taxes, to $7,500 monthly for a year.
He said the landlord also gave him a verbal agreement that when the year was up, Mioli would have a new five-year lease if Kate Spade did not seek to expand into the other two spaces.
Kate Spade’s offer never materialized—it closed—and neither did Mioli’s new lease from Malkin. He and Franciois DuPont Jewelers were told they had to be out by March 1, Mioli says. Athleta, a division of GAP Inc., is scheduled to take over the space, according to real estate sources. The jewelry store is moving to nearby Sconset Square.
Westport Pizzeria staffers shared Mioli’s wistfulness about the move.
The new home of Westport Pizzeria, 143 Post Road East, was empty Saturday night. Mel Mioli bought out the 10-year lease of tenant Eatalia. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“It’s part of my life, a big change,” said Monica Kent, a Fairfield resident who has worked at the current location since 1984. “I put myself through college, undergraduate and graduate, working here. I don’t know how long it will take me to know I’m not going down to Main Street but to the Post Road.”
“There’s a lot of nostalgia here,” chimed in John Reinhardt, who has delivered pizzas for the past 26 years.
Customer Buck Ianncone, sitting at the counter with his wife and son, said, “When you talk about losing mom and pops on Main Street, you talk about losing people connected to the community because they live here. Where does the president of GAP live?
Iannocone, who said he has been a patron of the Westport Pizzeria since he was in junior high school, said that when he has solicited donations for local organizations, such as PAL, “I could just come in and ask Mel.”
“Now we’re sent to corporate when we try to solicit funds (at chain stores),” he said, noting that the Mioli family has always been generous to local causes, either financially “or donating a hundred pizzas.”
Westport Pizzeria was opened by Carmelo and Joe Mioli on Columbus Day, 1968, a time when slices sold for 25-cents and the monthly rent was $350.
The building housing Kate Spade (now closed), DuPont Jewelers, and Westport Pizzeria will house women’s clothing store Athleta, a division of GAP Inc. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Along with Oscar’s Deli, whose owner Lee Papageorge owns the building, it has remained a stalwart mom and pop along Main Street’s “Golden Half Mile” that was once home to other independents but now is mostly high-end national chain stores.
Carmelo Mioli assumed full ownership 10 years ago when Joe retired to run as the Democratic candidate for state representative, a position he was elected to for three terms before stepping down to run for the Italian parliament.
Though Carmelo and Joe have been the faces of the pizzeria for decades, all of the Mioli siblings—Santo, John and Rita—have at some time worked there (John was a partner for a few years), as well as Carmelo’s wife Carrie and sons Francesco and Alessandro, making pies and Italian dinners and waiting tables.
Mioli remains excited about the move. He says the number of seats will be the same, plus the new location offers the opportunity for al fresco dining. He is also applying for a license to serve beer and wine.
Still, the memories of customers past and present, as well as the love of the place on Main Street, remain strong for Mioli and his workers.
“I think back, and I see kids who used to come in here are now back with their own children,” employee Monica Kent said. “I’ve seen families grow here.”
Carmelo’s nephew Frank Mioli, 49, noted that throughout the years patrons have been more than customers, “but people whom we treat as family.”
Customers lined up last October for 25-cent slices as Westport Pizzeria marked its 45th anniversary on Main Street with 1968 prices. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
They range from local residents, such as the late Charles Moffett, a custodian at the Westport Weston family Y, to the long roster of celebrities who have rubbed elbows there.
Among them were Paul Newman, who would sit hidden behind large sunglasses near the front window, Joanne Woodward, Martha Stewart, David Letterman, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Jack Klugman, Whoopi Goldgerg and Nile Rodgers.
“We’re sad to leave here, but we look forward to serving the community in the new place,” said Jacques Voris, one of many workers and customers who say they grew up at the Westport Pizzeria.
“We all grew up here,” said Carmelo Mioli. “Even I grew up here. But we’re taking all these memories to the new place.”
