THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412130097
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Just as he has done thousands of times before over the last five decades, Joe Scalco stands at the door of his service station and surveys Colley Avenue.
As cars motor past the garage, nestled smack in the middle of the thriving Colley Avenue retail corridor, drivers wave their greetings.
Scalco waves back and sometimes hollers a hello to longtime customers. Pedestrians stop for a chat or to use the bathroom. Customers pull their Volvos, Oldsmobiles and other vehicles into the garage's work bays for repairs.
To most eyes, it's business as usual on a typical weekday at Scalco's, a Colley Avenue mainstay. But to the 71-year-old owner, this day marks the beginning of the end of his Ghent operation. Scalco is being forced to pull up stakes he planted 47 years ago.
``It's a sad thing,'' a white-haired Scalco said, wistfully watching the noontime traffic move down the busy thoroughfare. ``I've been here 47 years, and my son has been here 22. Now, all of a sudden, we're out of business. I don't know what we're going to do. We sure didn't want to leave.
``I had hoped to leave this to my son.''
On Nov. 30, the owner of the property, Sentry Petroleum Co., began removing Scalco's aging metal gas tanks. The company does not intend to replace them. The Colley Avenue operation does not sell enough gas to warrant the investment in new upgraded tanks, Sentry told Scalco.
Yet, without the gas sales, Scalco believes it's just a matter of time before he's out of business.
Sentry officials have told Scalco, a Norfolk native, that he can stay as long as the property stays in the oil company's hands. Even though the property is not currently on the market, Scalco believes the prime real estate will sell.
``This is valuable property,'' he pointed out. ``I can't afford to buy it.''
For as long as Scalco can remember, there has been a gas station operating on the corner of Colley and Spotswood avenues. Even as a student at Blair Junior High (now a middle school) during the late '30s, Scalco remembers watching cars line up to buy gas at the ``filling station'' there.
After returning from service in World War II, Scalco purchased the business in 1947. In those early years, his operation was one of six gas stations on the stretch of Colley Avenue between 21st Street and Graydon Avenue.
Today, Scalco and the Exxon on Graydon are the only ones left.
He never purchased the property, but through the years, it has changed hands. At different times, Scalco has sold City Service, Sinclair, BP and Sentry gasoline.
Son Joey joined the family-run operation in 1961, at age 13. After school and on weekends, he washed cars and did other odd chores. Through the years, he took on more responsibilities, until, at 22, he joined his father full-time. Now Joey, 46, has become the manager of the operation and its licensed state inspector.
Even in the two decades since Joey started working with his father, the surrounding neighborhood has changed.
``When I started here, Colley Avenue was really different,'' Joey recalled. ``Across the street, what used to be a shoe shop, popcorn stand and beauty parlor is now a country antique shop. Taste Unlimited over there was the Hard Rock Cafe where motorcycle gangs used to hang out. And Szechuan in Ghent used to be a grocery store. Over the years, the neighborhood has gotten nicer, and the clientele has gotten better. I've seen all these things change, but we've pretty much stayed the same.''
Joey Scalco says he had his heart set on taking over the family business when his father retired.
``Now, there doesn't look like there's going to be a family business to take over,'' he said.
His father worries about his son, his longtime customers and himself.
``I don't have any hobbies,'' Joe said. ``I don't know what I'm going to do if this thing closes.
``But I'm old. I figured in another year or so, I'd retire. But my son is what I'm worried about. He's got a family, and a mortgage to pay. He has to work. If we close, it will put five families out of work.''
Even with the grim outlook, the family plans to hold on by continuing to offer car repairs, state inspections and road service. They're also scouting the area for a relocation site. They want to stay in Ghent, preferably on Colley Avenue, but admit that's highly unlikely.
Although the elder Scalco said he knew the day was coming that the tanks would be upgraded, he never seriously entertained the notion that he would lose his gas supply and, possibly, his business.
When they removed the tanks, ``It was the saddest day of my life,'' he said. ``But, I know, even if the worst happens, we'll all survive. We always have.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Joey Scalco, left, and his father Joe have worked together for 22
years.
by CNB