Vennari's Pizza in Lewisburg Closing After 40 Years in Business

Karen Roessler, 83, has decided to sell Vennari's Pizza, the Market Street institution she and her late husband Howard built from scratch four decades ago, ending a run that outlasted countless Bucknell graduating classes and became as much a part of Lewisburg as the borough itself.

"It's bittersweet, it is. It's like pulling off a band-aid. I have to do it, and I'm trying to do it in record time, but I'm ok. You have to know when it's your time to quit. I think that's important when you're my age," Roessler said.

At 83, Roessler says she can no longer manage the restaurant's day-to-day operations. The business will be formally placed on the market this week, with a sale and closing process expected to take roughly two months, followed by a 30-day transition period. Roessler confirmed she has already received a few offers, and Vennari's will remain open until the sale is complete.

The story of the shop traces back to Howard Roessler, who spent 18 and a half years with the New York City Police Department before an injury led to early retirement. He and Karen were constantly traveling between Brooklyn, his hometown, and Ohio, where Karen grew up, when Lewisburg caught his eye. Howard wanted a business in a college town, and Market Street fit that vision. The couple sold their Long Island home and moved to the borough.

Howard came to the kitchen the hard way. "He was a chef; he made himself a chef. He could do anything; he was that kind of a person. He learned from working in the kitchens of New York for free. Every time he would work for free, they would offer him a job," Karen said.

The shop took hold. Vennari's became a fixture for Lewisburg residents and Bucknell students alike over four decades of service, with the Roessler family leaving a literal mark on the place: Frank Roessler's son recently pressed his handprints into the concrete at the shop, mirroring the spot where Frank's own handprints were made as a child more than 40 years ago.

Roessler hopes the next owner preserves what Howard built. "I can't make it stay in for them. I hope that somebody does keep it open, but I also know that some people won't, but it's a ready-made shop; they wouldn't have to do anything to it," she said.

What happens to the Market Street address after the sale is ultimately out of her hands. What isn't in question is what the shop meant to the family and the town it fed for 40 years.