Paul Bass Photo
Third-generation tailor Enzo Valentino with son Antonio at Thursday's ribbon-cutting for family's new shop.
History came full circle on Grand Avenue Wednesday with the help of city government aid aimed at rebuilding a traditional small-business corridor.
The occasion was a ribbon-cutting for a new/old tailor shop at the corner of Grand Avenue and Jefferson Street.
Valentino’s Tailors moved its 53-year-old shop there recently from Hamden. The shop specializes in “alterations and made-to-measure clothing for men and women” and sells “suits, sports jackets, trousers, dress shirts, ties and made to order shoes.”
The move returns an Italian-American-owned business to a building that used to house another beloved Italian-American-owned business, Frank’s Hardware. The western stretch of Grand Avenue (roughly from State to Wallace) once teemed with immigrant-run Italian-American, Jewish, Irish-American, and Black-owned small businesses and community institutions until I‑91 and Urban Renewal-era trends wiped the neighborhood out.
The city has been nurturing a revival of the district. Enzo Valentino, who inherited the business from his father, said that partly explained why he decided to move the business there from Hamden. Two city grants totaling $73,000 — for facade improvements and “leasehold improvements,” including for a new “point of sale” system to track garments and sales — played a role, too.
“You can see New Haven growing and improving year after year. We’re excited to be part of that,” Valentino said at the ribbon-cutting.
Industry trends played a key role in the decision as well: Small tailor shops have been closing throughout the region, Valentino observed. (“Nobody’s learning how to sew.”) So customers have grown accustomed to traveling farther. The Grand-and-Jefferson location near I‑91 and I‑95 better positions the shop for that regional business.
Generation one: Vincenzo and Celeste Valentino.
Enzo’s grandfather Vincenzo opened the family’s first tailor shop inside his home in the Italian village of Puglianello Benevento. Vincenzo’s son Antonio emigrated to the U.S. After working as a tailor at New Haven’s old Finn & Feinstein suit factory, he opened his own shop in 1969 on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden. He ran it with his wife Carmel for 50 years. Then Enzo took over. He runs the shop with his wife Alicia, who grew up in Fair Haven Heights.
Vincenzo was on hand for Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting. He offered an explanation (shown in the above video) of what makes a quality suit.
Mayor Justin Elicker and Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre (pictured) thanked the family for being part of the city’s efforts to revive Grand Avenue and build a “resilient economy.” “You have a lot of friends in New Haven. We’re here to see you through this journey for another 50 years,” Eyzaguirre told Valentino, “when your boys are running the business.”
The two sons, Antonio and Max (pictured above), were having a ball at the event. When asked, they said they have other plans for their professional future. “I want to work for Lego,” Antonio said. Max is eyeing a restaurant or gamer career.
Plans do have a way of changing. As their dad Enzo knows.
Enzo said he never intended to follow his father into the business. After graduation from the University of Connecticut, he worked for 10 years in construction management. “I was working really hard,” he recalled. So he asked himself: Why don’t I work hard for myself?
The rest is history.
