Two stores shut down over break as two more arrive downtown

Students returning to College Park after a winter break hiatus may be surprised to find new storefronts dotting the ever-changing downtown Route 1 shopping district.

Fat Tino's pizzeria and Simply Delicious Jerk Center, a Caribbean restaurant, both occupied commercial spaces across the street from the College Park Shopping Center. During winter break, the two restaurants closed their doors for the last time. Although the Jerk Center's former location remains vacant, Vito's Pizzeria stepped in less than two weeks ago to take Fat Tino's place.

Across the street, signs advertise an incoming GameStop video game chain store that will fill the former Potomac Video location next to CVS. The new GameStop ads and fresh red and black carpeting are the first activity in the space since Potomac Video shut+ its doors in spring of 2008.

College Park economic development coordinator Chris Warren has said high rent in the city has made it difficult for smaller "mom-and-pop" establishments to survive for long.

While Vito's Pizzeria is owned and operated by Vito Antonio Riccio, a 2005 university alumnus who studied communications and international business, GameStop is a corporate chain which already boasts two locations nearby — one in Prince George's Plaza and another in the Beltway Shopping Center about a mile north of the campus.

"There's a reputation that comes with the chains," junior geology and German major Amanda Bender said. "Everyone's heard of GameStop."

Although two privately owned stores selling video games already exist in downtown College Park — the CD-Game Exchange on Lehigh Road and Pandora's Cube across from The University View apartment complex — students insisted the GameStop will be a success.

"I love video games," Bender said.

Despite the fate of their predecessors, many local store owners remain optimistic.

Riccio said he hopes to make it big with Vito's Pizzeria after working for five years as a financial analyst. He came up with the concept for Vito's in his business writing class at the university and bought out Fat Tino's because he saw the location and facilities as a way to put his plan into action, he said.

But some students are skeptical that there is a place for a new pizza parlor on Route 1 with long-standing establishments such as Ratsie's and Domino's and plans for the famous Ledo Pizza to set up shop in the city.

"I think it would have to be something different or exceptional to really stand apart," senior agricultural and resource economics major Andrew Mizrahi said.

Riccio, who announced his pizzeria's arrival with a big sign advertising "Real Pizza By Real Italians" offers specialty pizzas by the pie or by the slice.

"We have buffalo chicken, eggplant parmesan, Philly cheesesteak," said Riccio, a first-generation American who speaks Italian fluently. "I try to make it so you can come in every day and get something different."

Like other pizza places in the area, Vito's menu offers pizza, stromboli, calzones, subs and non-alcoholic beverages, but Riccio isn't planning on going anywhere — in fact, he's looking forward to expanding.

"I eventually want to be renting out some more space here and expand the place, knock down the wall and do a bar and live music," he said. "The exciting thing is this is just the first step."

apino@umdbk.com