In his last week before retiring on Sept. 25, Phil Marchese at Joe's Meat Market was a very busy man. Loyal customers placed orders for up to $2,500 worth of steaks, roasts and chicken. But sadly, even a full freezer can't preserve Phil's friendly smile and cheerful conversation, which will be missed by all who patronized the market at 553 Port Washington Blvd., as much as Phil's quality meats and twice-daily delivery service.

Phil's father, Joe, who emigrated from Italy at age 18, started selling meat from the back of a truck in Port Washington in 1927, mostly to the thriving Italian community. In 1931, Joe opened his own store on Port Washington Boulevard at the corner of Willowdale Avenue. For the first few years, Joe and his family lived behind the store. One of Phil's earliest memories is of making tents with newly laundered butcher's aprons as he played with his sister behind the counter. When Phil was in his teens, his father built the building where the store was located until Phil's retirement last week.

As a lifetime resident of Port, Phil has seen many changes in his town and in his business. Boyhood memories include cutting through woods and farmland where the Revere Shopping Center and New Salem are today. Phil also remembers a time when parking was not such a problem in Port Washington (hard to imagine, isn't it?). In days gone by, he recalls, customers used to order meat on a daily basis, as people did not freeze things as readily as they do today. Tastes have veered from lots of beef to almost entirely chicken and back to increased orders for red meat. And the overhead of a small business has skyrocketed, largely because of electricity costs, rising taxes, and insurance, which is one reason that Phil has not passed the business on to children Kim, Karen or Paul. Paul, now a lawyer, worked behind the counter with his Dad while in college and used to come in regularly to help on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, when father and son spent the whole day tagging turkeys.

As Port's downtown landscape becomes filled with larger stores and chain retailers, the geniality and "small town" feeling that Joe's Meats embodied will be missed by generations of residents. Happily, Phil himself will still be here. His retirement plans include spending more time with wife Rita, their children and grandchildren and continuing to bicycle ride all over Long Island.

I wonder where he'll buy his meat?

An oral history of the family business by Phil Marchese (interviewed by Margaret Dildilian in 1996) is available at the Port Washington Public Library.