Fircrest delicatessen that hearkened back to a simpler time closing after 35 years
Walking into Viafore’s Italian Delicatessen in Fircrest is like walking into a time machine.
Customers, as they have been for the past 35 years, often are greeted by owner David Viafore’s signature “Hey, boss,” as they come in to place an order, with a deli case featuring Italian staples — cheeses, salami, deli meats, housemade Italian sausage, pepperoni, etc. — and a made-to-order Italian sandwich menu with sides of pasta salad.
A row of refrigerators and a freezer line the side wall of the intimate space, humming along in the background, stocked with Coca-Cola, various sauces and bake-at-home entrees like lasagna. Sweets and bottles of Italian wines line the counters.
The deli, in many ways, has been a microcosm of Fircrest: Quiet, friendly, unassuming — the sort of place where people gather and “community” feels like something more than a marketing slogan. Now, after 35 years as the owner, Viafore is retiring and closing the deli. The last day of business will be Thursday, April 30.
“Dave and the deli are such an institution,” said Fircrest Mayor Hunter George. “It’s hard to imagine Fircrest without the deli. It’s where people go and talk about the state of things. It’s really kind of neat. It’s such a throwback in time. It’s the kind of place where people would go and gather and talk about civic stuff, talk about the community. We don’t really do that anymore.”
Viafore, 55, is a throwback himself, in many ways. Born and raised in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood in an Italian family with his parents, Art and Joy, Viafore began working at Jim’s Deli at 604 Regents Blvd. in Fircrest when he was 14 years old, emulating the work ethic he learned from his grandfather, Mike Viafore, who immigrated to the United States and built a life for himself and his family.
“He didn’t speak English,” Viafore said. “I remember him fondly because he was a very proud person. He didn’t want anything from the government, just an opportunity to succeed.”
Just before his 21st birthday, Viafore bought the deli from its former owner, Jim Aquino, and renamed it Viafore’s Italian Delicatessen, where he has been since, operating the deli alongside his sister, Debbie Viafore-Daniels, and Tonya, an assistant who has worked in the shop for 25 years. She asked The News Tribune not to publish her last name.
Viafore said the deli is not a coronavirus casualty — the timing of its closing is purely coincidental. Debbie is retiring this year and Viafore’s mom, Joy, hasn’t worked at the deli for several years. His dad, Art, who also helped in the deli, passed away five years ago.
“We’re a family owned and operated business,” Viafore said. “My sister has been with me for 35 years. Tonya has been with me for 25-plus years. They’ve been the key to my success and keeping me grounded. As the family members became less, I’ve chosen not to go down the path without them. I’ve been beating up my body for 35 years and became a workaholic. The timing was right.”
Viafore, who arrives at the store just after 4:30 a.m. every day with his daily Starbucks coffee in hand, said he’s still in fine health, overall. But just days before Christmas last year, he did injure his shoulder after falling.
“I had a bit of paralysis,” Viafore said. “To this day, I can’t lift my shoulder (all the way). I can’t raise my shoulder high enough. It hurts like the dickens. But I don’t want people to think it’s health. The time is right.”
Viafore’s business, first and foremost, focused on taking care of the Italian community — particularly, his elders. Operating in Fircrest was a match made in heaven.
“Because of its smallness,” Viafore said. “You knew everyone and everyone knew you. I cannot underestimate my success and the success of Fircrest came from my elders. They respected me and I respected them. Just like with the Italian community, you’re either respected or you’re an outsider.”
Blake Surina, owner of the Exercise Science Center gym in Fircrest and two-term City Council member from 1996 to 2000, then again from 2016 to 2020, is known as the town’s unofficial historian by his peers. To him, Viafore’s was a perfect fit for Fircrest.
“When you’re talking about a small town like this, the community was pre-planned,” Surina said. “Every street was planned before a house was built. It was designed to tie community together. The park was the central focus to the town. Places where people could meet and share community. It wasn’t done by accident. It was very purposely done.”
Once Manley’s grocery store, which was owned by this writer’s grandfather, went out of business, Viafore’s more or less became the town’s hub.
“That’s why Fircrest was such a great fit for a guy like Dave Viafore,” Surina said. “Everybody could walk there, go to his shop, talk. It’s centrally located. Dave was in an era where everyone knew everyone. That was so important. That was such an important part of Fircrest. Dave survived that era. He was there at the start of this.”
Members of the Facebook group “Friends of Fircrest” poured in personal stories and memories of Viafore’s over the years, with several writing about riding bikes with friends as kids to get pizza bread at Viafore’s on summer days. Kids, along with “old timers,” were a key part of Viafore’s business.
“I remember when (pizza bread) was a dollar and a quarter,” Viafore said. “Kids would come in and throw their coins on the counter and say, ‘I only have 75 cents.’ We always asked, ‘Are you sure you have 75 cents?’ We always made sure that they counted what a quarter was. We gave them a little mathematic test and then would say ‘OK, that’s good enough for today.’”
Viafore, who currently serves on the Fircrest City Council, has served a long political career in Fircrest. He was elected mayor to the city council at 27 and in 1994 at age 29, was elected mayor, making him the youngest mayor in Pierce County at the time. He served as mayor for 14 years during his first stint, and again from 2010 until 2015.
Known as a true fiscal conservative, Viafore aimed to run the city like his business.
“Dave is kind of a status quo guy,” Surina said. “He’s very frugal with his money. He looked at the town like it was his own money.”
Viafore, who was largely responsible for annexing different parts of the city over the years, said he’s most proud of the financial footing Fircrest currently finds itself on.
“If you don’t have a financial stream, you can’t go fishing very much,” he said. “We kept the values Fircrest was built on and we were able to put fircrest on solid financial grounds. In 2008, when we went through the recession, all the other cities had to cut back. Fircrest just had to maintain. That’s because we adopted a business plan. We’re extremely financially solvent, just like today.”
With the deli, what people will remember most fondly is Viafore’s generosity over the years. As a cash-only establishment, if folks forgot to bring cash, Viafore would often say, “Don’t worry about it, pay me back next time,” and send them on their way with their meals. He gave generously to the Italian community, catering weddings and funerals, even when some families couldn’t afford it.
He gave back to Fircrest, donating meals and items to the city, local PTAs, Fircrest Kiwanis. And he’d go out of his way to deliver food to those in need, quietly, without seeking praise or recognition.
“Dave regularly delivered sandwiches to my mother when she was dying from cancer,” wrote Facebook commenter Bart Rohrs. “He also delivered Christmas baskets to senior citizens, including my mother.”
Above all else, that type of decency is the legacy Viafore’s will leave.
“I don’t think people have a clue what he’s done for the city,” Surina said. “We used to have prisoners come down, do janitorial work, or work for the parks. He’d bring them pizza. They’re sitting there on the curb at the Rec Center across the street from the tennis courts and saying, ‘The mayor just brought us pizza.’ That was pretty much David.”
George said he’ll remember the deli fondly as a reminder of a simpler time.
“He’s not a self-promoter. He barely uses Facebook. He just does his thing,” George said. “It’s fun to sit there in the deli. He just knows everyone. There’s never a time in there, when state legislators, other local officials, business leaders, law enforcement — they’re always coming and going.
“It really is the way things used to be.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 1:30 PM.
