Plymouth Marcello's Pizza Closes Doors After 28 Years

A notebook binder sits on a table right outside the doors of restaurant in Plymouth.

Inside it are notes of sadness, words of comfort, moments of joy and fond memories shared of what the business has meant to many people for the past 28 years.

Marcello's closed its doors Feb. 29 and owners Lisa and Michael Pieper don't know if it will open again in a new location.

"We do have someone looking for another location for us," said Lisa Pieper. "We want stay in the Plymouth area. Our customers mean the world to us and we thank them so much for the support over the 28 years and on behalf of our staff we are so grateful for that."

The business venture started when the opportunity came up to partner and help manage the restaurant and later the Piepers bought it. They are currently partners in the business with Pete and Jody McNellis.

The Marcello name came up as one that sounded Italian and was appropriate for what they wanted for their place.

The Piepers have always owned Marcello's while it was located in the Four Seasons mall. The current manager has worked there for 20 years, the dining room manager 18 years and others anywhere from 3 to 10 years.

"We get staff who graduate high school, work here during summers and breaks, come back after college and even some who continue to work here even with a career job," Lisa said. "We have one employee who has worked here for many years and now her children work here."

And one thing Lisa notes is that the employees are dedicated.

"They didn’t ditch us when things were sketchy," Lisa said. "They've done an awesome job with it all and we are so very grateful."

About a year ago Walmart bought the property where the Four Seasons Mall sits. Marcello's and Kaplan University were all that was left up til now.

"Our lease ended and Walmart didn’t offer us a new one," Lisa said. "We have no other choice but to leave."

She said for months they've been trying to contact someone with Walmart to find out about the lease and finally had to come to the realization they'd close the doors.

"All we had was a random contact number for Walmart, we really had to put our foot out there," Lisa said. "They never called us back. We asked to renew the lease, but got nothing."

With only a few weeks left until the lease ran out, the Piepers and McNellis' made the tough decision to close in mid-February.

"We put the word out there to let employees and customers know because we didn't want to just shut the doors and be done," she said. "We were hoping to stay as so far we haven't heard or know of Walmart bringing anything or an application to the city so why wouldn’t they let us stay?"

Since word got out the customer support has been overwhelming, Lisa said.

"We’ve had lines out the door and into the hall," she said. "On the weekend we were full and at capacity about 10 minutes after we opened for lunch."

The scene was different this time last year. Various media had put stories out that the entire mall was closed and no businesses were left there when Marcello's still had a year to go with their lease. It left things a bit desolate.

"And with the vacant look with the emptying parking lot here many people had already written us off," Lisa said. "We also didn't have the walk through traffic from people going to other businesses at the mall or working in the mall."

Now that the doors are closing, people are coming from all over and sending emails, calls and letters saying how much they will miss Marcello's.

"If we find another location we will be sure to let people know," Lisa said. "This has been a very rewarding as a restaurant experience."

Editor's Note: Feel free to share your memories and comments on Marcello's closing and any photos you have.