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Vale-Rio in Path of "Progress"

Category: Preservation

Published Date

Written by Randy Garbin

We republish this bit of commentary from 2007 in light of the latest developments surrounding the Vale-Rio Diner in Phoenixville. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today, owner Frances Puleo, the guy that removed the diner from its long-time location has posted the diner on Ebay for a cool quarter mil. 

PHOENIXVILLE, PA -- It's official: owner Francis Puleo wants to replace his landmark Vale-Rio Diner with a Walgreens and a Starbucks. Puleo, who owns the diner, the business, and the property, assured Roadside that he will move the historic diner to a new location within the borough. He alerted us last month to his plans, and this past week, he and his developer did indeed file plans for the new development. "You just can't make enough money in the diner business these days," he told us.

We note here that Puleo didn't say he was not making any money from the diner, just not enough. He also assured Roadside that his real estate company had a parcel available for the new location. We can't help but wonder if he couldn't make enough money in Vale-Rio's current prime location, how will he make enough money in a less desirable spot? We ask this knowing that it often takes a half-million dollars, or more, to move and set up a diner of this size. There's something funny floating in this cup of coffee.

Just to place this news in perspective, residents of Phoenixville tell us that they already have two drugstores along that stretch of Route 23 within a half-mile of his location. See for yourself: Click here.

But as we've seen in the past ten years, such quibbles matter little to the pharmacy juggernauts or the developers that cater to them. The Vale-Rio Diner is one of only four remaining Paramount diners with the burnished circle pattern in its stainless skin. In our general observations of this business over the past two decades, any closing and removal of a diner to storage immediately endangers it. We don't like the odds of this one ever reopening. .