[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO THE VILLELLA FAMILY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 1, 1998

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the U.S. House of 
Representatives to pay tribute to an old and trusted family from 
Riverhead, Long Island as they close the family business that has 
lovingly served the community for the past four decades.
  This week, my good friend Vincent Villella, announced he is closing 
the family-owned shoe store that his father Gregory opened more than 42 
years ago on Main Street in Riverhead, Long Island. Generations of Long 
Islanders who live around this friendly, tight-knit East End community 
know the Villella family as more than shoe store proprietors, but as 
truly part of their extended family. Like other family traditions, 
parents still take their children to Villella's to buy their new shoes, 
just as their parents did with them.
  As the son of parents who operated a business in downtown Riverhead 
for years, when I learned the Villella Shoes was going out of business, 
it truly saddened my heart. An 82-year-old, second-generation 
shoemaker, Gregory Villella opened his shop in the late 1950s, when 
downtown Riverhead was a bustling commercial district. Main Street was 
the place when every family in the community came to buy their shoes, 
get their haircuts and do their grocery shopping. I can vividly recall 
memories of my own mother taking me into Villella Shoes to buy a new 
pair of shoes for school or church.
  Like many other mom-and-pop businesses across America, Villella Shoes 
has been hurt by a changing retail market, as more people do their 
shopping at the mall or big discount department stores. Though we may 
welcome the benefits competition brings the consumer, our communities 
are worse off when we lose good friends and neighbors like Villella 
Shoes.
  Main Street, Riverhead is currently undergoing an economic revival, 
led by exciting plans to build a waterfront aquarium and to create a 
downtown arts district that will draw some of the millions in tourist 
dollars flowing to the East End. Thank to the good work of new 
Riverhead Town Supervisor Vincent Villella and the tenacity of local 
residents who refuse to let their downtown die, the glory days of 
Riverhead are no longer part of its history, but rather an exciting new 
part of a glorious future.
  Nonetheless, Riverhead will lose a piece of its heart and soul when 
Villella Shoes, departs and each of us who care deeply about this 
community will miss it. Thankfully, the Villella family will still be 
here with us as we work to restore and revitalize downtown Riverhead. 
We have been blessed to have them as part of the East End, Long Island 
family for the past 42 years