Isaly's name in West View retires with its owners

Anyone with a camera last week became known as the "paparazzi" at Isaly's on Perry Highway in West View.But that just meant Tom and Gail Weisbecker, owners of the deli and eatery for 17 years, were having a little fun with their newfound celebrity.Since announcing the sale of their business and their retirement a few weeks ago, the couple has become the topic of local conversations and news stories.Today, Thursday, Sue Affolder and Bobby Dominek, both of McCandless, are scheduled to reopen the business under a new name – I Shall Always Love You Sweetheart, a mnemonic people have used to remember how to spell the iconic Isaly's.Nothing will change inside the store. The new duo will sell the same products and keep the same menu, décor, telephone number and quirky hours.But on the outside, periods will be added to the letters on the sign to make it I.S.A.L.Y.S.Rather than pay a licensing fee to use the Isaly's name, the new owners will use the different name. "This is the last real Isaly's," said Tom Weisbecker, 62."It's the way it looked when they were built."The tin roof and ceramic floors are a nod to the Art Deco period when they were designed. Old company signs still hang, and framed memorabilia from West View Park decorates the walls. It's all a testimony to Tom Weisbecker's long history with Isaly's. That history will stand, as the ownership changes.Even as a child growing up in Millvale, he knew about the signature skyscraper ice cream cones and the Chipped-Chopped Ham."I started at 16 with Isaly's for 86 cents an hour," he said with a laugh.Years later, he was working behind the grill at the West View Isaly's day while his wife was a waitress. Both waited on customers at the deli counter.Neither hardly paused long enough to be captured via the click of a camera during their busy final week. Their last day was Friday.During the last week, loyal patrons and new ones had been dropping by not only to enjoy the food but also to watch the couple in action for the last time."Talks with Tom and Gail went very smoothly, very quickly," Dominek, 49, said about the sale."They helped us out immensely."Dominek and Affolder had wanted to work together in some restaurant project."Sue likes to do things, to do something new," he said, so she added another restaurant to her portfolio; she also owns the 5 Fools Bar & Grill on Perry Highway in McCandless and Around the Corner on Babcock Boulevard in Shaler Township. Dominek is a partner in this enterprise.The buyers and sellers discovered each other through a mutual contact. The timing seemed right for both pairs.After 32 years in the restaurant business — 10 as a store manager and 20 years as owner of the Sunshine and Roses Restaurant and the West View Isaly's, Tom Weisbecker is counting the days until the first Social Security check arrives.He also is looking forward to focusing more time on grandson Joey, 11 months old, the son of Jessica Vey, 28, of Shaler Township. Joey has served as the honorary "ambassador" of Isaly's.Gail Weisbecker, 54, eagerly was awaiting the opportunity to sit on the deck of the Weisbeckers' Ross Township home and drink coffee on a Saturday morning.It was her first free Saturday "in I don't know how many years," she said.In the final days before the closing, customers were lined up at 6:45 a.m. Doors opened at 7, and it was a steady stream of breakfast patrons until 8:50. "Then, another wave comes," Gail Weisbecker said, "with a half minute to breathe and start again."And then it was back into high gear."This is extra special with them," Dominek said."The name is tremendous, but they're a tough act to live up to."Through it all, the Weisbeckers have given and gotten support from the community. They were happy to promote West View during the borough's centennial and revitalization, Tom Weisbecker said."I've cooked almost 2 million eggs in 32 years," he explained lightheartedly."I'm getting out before 2 million."His wife sees it in another way and wonders when the full impact of the workless days will hit them."It'll be bittersweet," she said, with tears behind her eyes."Tom and I have touched lives, and they've touched us."