Nick’s Service Center to downsize, inch up Central Ave.

Nick’s Service Center, a staple of Valley Stream for the past 52 years, is moving at the end of the month.

The service center is not moving far, however. The new Nick’s Service Center will be only half of a mile north of its current location at 340 North Central Avenue. The new location will not include a gas station.

“I’m looking to downsize my operation and get out of the gasoline business. It’s changed a lot, you know,” said owner John Sgaglione, citing the advent of self-serve gasoline and convenience stores.

Sgaglione believes that, because it is a full-serve gasoline station, Nick’s resembles a 1960s gas station.

“We’re a little bit of a throwback,” he said. “We’re old school. We’re a dinosaur. We’re pretty much structured the same way now as we were 52 years ago.”

Sgaglione’s father, Nick, built Nick’s Srvice Center in 1965. Nick previously owned an Esso gas station in Coney Island, but in 1965 Esso offered him a deteriorated gas station in Valley Stream. Nick worked seven days a week for several years to build up the gas station and the service center. He even held several events at the gas station for Valley Stream residents, including a fundraiser for former mayor Dominick Minerva, and annual fundraisers for Toys for Tots. Eventually, Nick won several awards for his work at Esso, including a community award and several million gallon of the year awards for pumping gas.

Sgaglione took over the business in 1994 when his father died. It was not much of an adjustment for him, though, because he had worked at the center since he was 14. He took an auto mechanics class in high school and started working full time at the center after he graduated.

“I’ve had one job in one place my entire life,” he said.

Sgaglione’s life was not just focused on the service center, however. Before he started to work at the center, John met and fell in love with Anita Romanelli, whom he later married. The couple have three children together, and Anita began working at the service center as well.

“I’ve been around this place pretty much my whole life too, and I’ve been working here on and off when the kids were young,” Anita said. “But — pretty much making this move — it’s going to be a smaller place, so it’s pretty much going to be him and I.”

Unfortunately, they said, because the smaller operation requires fewer people, the business will lose people whom they have worked with for many years. One gasoline manager, Erol Ayden, has worked with the couple for 21 years. Now he is out of a job.

“The customers love and adore him and they’re devastated,” Anita said. “We’re devastated that we can’t take him with us because the whole gasoline end of the business is not going to be there.”

Ayden said he plans to visit his family in Germany for almost a month. The Sgagliones promised him that they would help him find another job.

“It’s going to be an emotional experience for me because of the memories of my father and the number of years that we’ve been here,” Sgaglione said.

Will you miss Nick’s Service Center? Send letters to the editor to nciccone@liherald.com.