Operator of SAS Italian Records reacts to closing of store

After the announcement that SAS Italian Records, 7113 18th Ave., would be closing after nearly 60 years in Bensonhurst, one of the owners revealed she is saddened to shutter its doors for good.

Current owner and operator of the store Silvana Conte talked about the emotional goodbye and how she kept it open because of her mother Rita, who opened the store in 1967 with her husband Ciro after they came from Ponza, Italy.

Rita died last month.

“After COVID, things went for everybody, but I held on because she would say to me every day, ‘this is my gold store. This is what I created,” Conte said in a video posted by Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn’s Instagram page. “I was like, okay, we’ll keep the legacy alive. It’s fine. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy, and I kept it going, but now she died. Now, inheritances are what they are; it’s not up to me anymore.”

She also told the New York Post that they struggled to make money at the store, and her brother and sister don’t want to keep it open.

“This meant everything to me,” she continued in the video. “I had my first kiss right there. My grandmother died there, too, as a matter of fact. She had a stroke and hit the floor right there. The store is everything. It’s history. My whole family is represented here.”

Conte said she still held out small hope to keep it open if “some angel investor came around and said, ‘look, I’ll fund it.’”

S.A.S. in the name of the store stands for Silvana, Adrianne and Silverio, the three children of Ciro and Rita. 

The store has sold Italian CDs, records, movies, beauty and bath products, soccer novelties, housewares, playing cards, and more. 

People reacted to the video with sadness.

“I went there with my mom all the time to get records for my grandfather! I was 6 [and] I’m 47 now,” posted one person.

“Silvana, I remember the first day the store opened, 57 years ago. We lived upstairs above the store,” said another. “I’m so sorry to see this Brooklyn Italian landmark close. We played with your brother and sister.”

“The neighborhood has changed so much,” Conte said.