Popular Western Mass pizzeria to close after 56 years

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - A long running pizza place in Springfield’s East Forest Park neighborhood will soon be closing its doors. Ending a saga of serving the community that goes all the way back to the year 1969.

Frankie & Johnnie’s Pizzeria, which many residents grew up getting food from, will soon be a memory.

Since 1989, Leon Giard has been working at Frankie & Johnnie’s Pizzeria.

Not only that, but he and his wife have owned the business for the last 17 years, picking up where the original owners left off. Owner Leon Girard reflects on the original owners and how they operated the restaurant, “”(They were) really big on word-of-mouth advertising and treating people right at a fair price, and that just really resonated into the place that it became."

Giard tells Western Mass News he wants to enjoy life a little bit, calling this move both bittersweet and a retirement from the pizza business. It was decided early on that he and his family would take this to the end and not sell.

A good number of customers have been ordering here either since they were little, enjoying a variety of options like any other pizza place in Western Mass.

“My wife and I, we always order grinders. We just love them here. The bread and what they put on them. It’s awesome,” said Gary Gilbert, a long-time customer of Frankie & Johnnie’s.

After seeing the notice both on social media and outside the restaurant, customers also say they are looking to visit as much as they can until the final pizza comes out of the oven.

Customers now only have one month left to enjoy their food, as on August 31st, the restaurant will finally be closed for good.