Louie's Foot Long Hot Dogs has been a staple in the community for 72 years, but after decades of serving up foot longs, burgers, fries, and more, the business is calling it quits. The difficult decision was made by Louie's son, Angelo Turco, and other family members. For the past two years, Turco's cousin, Aaron LaMarca has been running the shop.
"We've run the race. We've already run the marathon, and now it's time for us to say goodbye," says Angelo Turco, son of Louie's Foot Long Hot Dogs, Louie Turco.
A 72-year-long race that stopped running Tuesday is a hard pill to swallow when it was your life's work.
"I'm sad. I'm happy. I feel a sense of accomplishment," Turco says.
Reporter: Did you expect success like this?
Turco: "It was always a family-run business. Once the ball was rolling and we saw how popular we were and how quickly we were becoming a staple in the neighborhood, we said hey, let's stick with this thing. We see something special going on."
The family's American dream came true in 1951 and grew across the area for decades. Then everything changed when COVID happened.
"When COVID hit and a lot of states were shutting down businesses and handing out money, it was really putting a hurting on small family businesses," Turco says. He continues, "There's only so much we can charge for a hot dog, and you walk out spending $50, you're going to be like, what the heck is going on?"
Louie's was one of them. He says he had staffing issues, rising supply costs, and bills. But after serving the community's favorites for decades, Turco has a parting message for his customers.
"I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart; that comes from not only me but my father, my mother, brother, and sisters; they took the journey with us. If you don't have those loyal customers, you're never going to make it. We treated our customers like family, and they treated us like family. The thing I'm going to miss the most about the business is our customers. I loved our customers," Turco says.