Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
The Brickette Lounge up for sale
Line dancers and fans of live music might someday need to find another place to go.
The Brickette Lounge, 1339 S. Pottstown Pike, between Exton and West Chester, has been listed for sale through a realtor for almost two years.
The 6,100 square foot roadside bar, probably best known for hosting country music and classic rock bands on weekends, is still open.
Owners Karen and David Valentino recently dropped the price by $200,000 to $2 million. The 1.9-acre property includes a home with three car garage and is currently listed by KW Williams in Exton.
While most everything is for sale, including the sound system, Pennsylvania Liquor License and shot glasses, David Valentino said he expects the bar and restaurant would likely be razed by a developer for another use.
“I’m going to miss meeting people and talking to them,” Karen Valentino said, earlier this week. “This is the only ma and pa bar left in Chester County. Everything else comes and goes.”
Many who have been coming to “The Brick” since David started working there 42 years ago as a 17- year old are still bending an elbow at the bar.
“We have gone through some of the same things,” David Valentino said.
Patrons have seen him get married to Kathy, saw the couple have a child, Victoria, and watched Victoria grow up to raise her own two children.
One couple even met, and was married by a justice of the peace, at the lounge.
David’s father, Lewis Valentino, worked a luncheonette from 1956-1963, located just south of Exton Station. After that property was condemned to build the Rt. 100 Exton bypass, Lewis opened up a luncheonette at the current Pottstown Pike site in 1963.
David said his father took the name from the former luncheonette, and the “Brickette Steaming Hot,” was born. Lewis passed away in the 1990s.
“Brickette” was named after a brick pedestal where the grill was located at the original luncheonette, David said.
The U-shaped bar hosts 30 bar stools and there are 35 tables for music lovers.
The most popular drink
is a 24-ounce Miller Lite pounder, which sells for $5.
One distinctive item once on display, along with dozens of plaques hanging for the walls, was a life-size bust of Elvis Presley.
Elvis no longer watches over line dancers on Tuesday and Thursday nights since the bust was stolen, and later returned broken, after it was damaged in transit.
David said the thief wore a varsity football jacket from a local high school, individualized with his jersey number, during the theft.
Customers examined the school’s yearbook and were able to track the bust down to the thief’s brother in Florida.
“Elvis” was purchased second-hand at the Bazaar of All Nations in Clifton Heights.
The couple talked fondly about the day a make-believe bar employee, Kirstie Alley, of Cheers, served drinks at the taproom.
They said she was working at nearby QVC.
The couple finishes sentences for each other, with a fine sense of humor.
“A lot of people have given us signs,” Karen said. “A lot reflect my sparkling personality, especially the sarcastic ones.”
David, 60, said he won’t miss some of the aggravation associated with running a bar.
“When something breaks, you’ve got to fix it,” he said.
Karen, 67, said the couple will continue to see many of the regulars, but David said he’d never come back for a visit if the bar survives after a sale.
“What do you want me to do, walk behind the bar with a walker and throw beers all over the place?” Karen said with a smile.
“I’ll never sit at the bar, never step foot back in this place again,” David said. “I just couldn’t.”
The couple works five days per week from 3 p.m. to closing.
Karen is excited to spend more time with her grandchildren. She also will put her labradoodle to work as a therapy dog. She expects to volunteer at a hospital or animal shelter.
The property is no longer zoned for a commercial use and is part of a R-2, or residential, zoning district. The liquor license may be transferred within the county.
“I don’t think it will still be here,” David said about The Brick.