After the Vale-Rio closes tonight, its owners will try to reopen elsewhere. But obstacles remain.

By Jess Kamen | The Philadephia Inquirer | Feb., 24, 2008

For the last few weeks, the Vale-Rio Diner's employees have been wearing black ribbons pinned to their shirts to signify that they are in mourning. "It really is like a funeral," said Helen Jackson, 56, a waitress for 15 years. "The closer it gets, the harder it is to talk about."

Phoenixville's beloved Vale-Rio Diner will close at 10 tonight after 60 years on Nutt Road (Route 23).

But if everything goes according to plan - which is iffy - the funeral might be followed by a rebirth. The owners said they planned to reopen the Vale-Rio at another Phoenixville spot.

Brothers Richard and Francis Puleo, who own the diner with John O'Sullivan, said its basic structure would be wrapped in plastic and stored at a site the Puleos own until they found a new location.

In the meantime, "about 44 people will join the unemployment line," assistant manager Danielle Charry said.

The diner's employees received 45 days' notice of the closing, although Francis Puleo insisted that they had been made aware of the possibility a long time ago.

"We heard talk about it for a couple years, but we thought it was just talk," said Jackson, who said she didn't know where she would work next - and couldn't imagine working anywhere else.

"It still hasn't sunk in yet," she said. "I have no idea where to go."

But Jackson said she was more worried about the customers than herself.

"So many customers have been coming here for years," she said. "For a lot of them - especially the elderly folks - if they can't come here, their world stops. We just take care of so many people.

"We'll even physically carry in the disabled people that can't make it in themselves. We've kept a lot of kids off the streets. Everyone, young and old, just keeps saying, 'Where are we going to go now? What are we going to do?' "

For some, there's more anger than sadness.

"It's disgraceful. It's disgusting," said Linda Gazzillo, 54, a customer who first visited the diner with her father in 1957. "To lose this place, to put people out of work - and for what? For money?"

"This is a great town, but they're chipping away at everything that makes Phoenixville what it is, what makes it unique," said her daughter, Lisa, 38, who said many of her favorite childhood memories included the Vale-Rio. "This town doesn't need a another pharmacy," which is what will replace the diner.

The 1.3-acre property at Nutt Road and Bridge Street, the Vale-Rio Diner's home since 1948, is under agreement of sale to Pineville Properties. The company plans to replace the diner with a Walgreens.

The first floor of the Fountain Inn, also on the property, will be converted into a Starbucks.

The Borough Council had vetoed the Walgreens/Starbucks plan in November 2006 because it felt the plan failed to account for the future of the Vale-Rio Diner and Fountain Inn, which members agreed had transcended individual ownership to become community assets. Some members were not convinced that the Puleos intended to make good on their promise to reopen, and were nervous that the diner would suddenly be sold to someone outside the borough.

A Paramount diner, the Vale-Rio has a burnished-circle pattern in its stainless steel exterior that makes it very rare.

"Only a handful of this particular style of diner still exist," said Richard J.S. Gutman, author of American Diner: Then and Now. A high estimate for the building would be $120,000, he said, but diners lose value when moved off their foundation.

After two years of debate, the council approved the plan if the Puleos signed a legal agreement to reopen in the borough.

Finding a new spot won't be easy. Prices of available sites spiked when potential sellers learned of the brothers' contractual obligations, Richard Puleo said. "Wherever we go, they know we have to put [the diner] there, so they ask for crazy amounts of money," he said.

The Puleos have been petitioning the council for a zoning variance that would allow them to operate - not just store - the diner on their property at Nutt Road and Starr Street. But the political process could take one to two years, Francis Puleo said.

To reopen, the Puleos said, they must also find a way to cut some of the hidden costs. For instance, since heating and cooling an uninsulated stainless-steel structure is very expensive, Francis Puleo said, they might put the diner inside a larger building.

He also said the Vale-Rio would likely be modeled after a Cracker Barrel, where merchandise supplements the diner's revenue.

"You have to have another economic tool to make a diner work today," he said.

His brother seemed to disagree, however, and said he thought the diner would stay outdoors at the new location.

If they can't move the diner, the Puleos said, it won't be for lack of trying.

"Some of it isn't up to us. . . . I can't control 10 politicians, and if anyone can, God bless you," a frustrated Francis Puleo said. "It really depends on what the borough wants to do. If the town wants to keep something, they will."

"I have remorse," his brother said. "I'm a little regretful, but the main thing driving the sale is that my partners are looking to retire, and I don't have the energy to do this by myself. I think it will continue to be an uphill battle, but we are still committed to trying to make it work."

Even a temporary close will be hard for many residents to handle.

"I'm just so worried [about] the little old ladies that come in," Jackson said. "I want to say, 'Oh, I'll take care of you till they open it up again.'

"Maybe I'll have to start visiting everybody, take them their coffee," she joked.

Originally published online here: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/nabes/20080224_Diner_may_not_be_86ed_forever.html