GREENFIELD — A pizzeria known for its movie-themed decor just released its sequel after a fire forced the closing of its former location last year.
Hometown Classic Pizza now offers carry-out and delivery at 1002 E. Main St. in Riley Park Plaza, where it hopes to open its dining room soon. Following its nine-month absence, the reopening marks the continuation of a business that’s operated in the city for more than 50 years.
The restaurant was formerly located downtown at 12 W. Main St. until May 2020, when a fire that broke out in an upstairs apartment left it with significant water damage that ruined booths, decor and the ceiling.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryAll of the employees who worked for the restaurant when the fire shut it down are back, said owner Julie Bartlett.
“We have been very excited,” she said.
The pizzeria operates out of what was previously an electrical parts supply shop, requiring an extensive remodeling, Bartlett said.
“There was no kitchen whatsoever, so we had to put in an entire kitchen,” she added.
The property also got new paint and flooring as well as additional walls and plumbing, heating and electrical components. A restroom was removed while two restrooms and a servers room were added.
Bartlett hopes for the dining room to be ready soon.
“We wanted to go ahead and get the kitchen operational and get food going out as soon as we could,” she said. “We still have primarily decorating to do in the dining room.”
It also needs a finalized floor plan, occupancy approval and seating, as the booths downtown were lost to water damage in the fire.
When the dining room does open, customers will notice a switch from the former location’s self service to the new one’s wait service. Bartlett said that’s partially due to a desire to reduce touch points for patrons amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I also think customers will have a better experience not having to get up and down and use their card every time they buy a beer or a desert or an appetizer,” she said. “That should be a good change for everyone.”
The restaurant was able to salvage some of the movie and musician posters that adorned the walls in its former downtown location and has repurchased items and received donations of games and posters. It also still has decor items like old movie projectors and radios that shelves will be built for.
Board games will be available when the dining room opens, just as they were in the former location. The new spot will have an arcade too, but only after social distancing guidelines are lifted.
Hometown Comics and Games donated two large boxes of posters to its fellow local business, something co-owner Frances Hull said they were happy to do.
“It was something that we had that we could help,” she said. “I can’t even imagine the devastation and the devastating feeling that we would have if that had happened to our business, and I would hope that we had people who cared that would step forward and help us out however they could, and this was a way for us to help them.”
Social media has been abuzz welcoming the pizzeria back since its reopening. Hull, who hosted a game night at Hometown Classic Pizza before the pandemic struck, said it’s easy to see why the restaurant is so popular.
“I think it’s more the feeling of the business,” she said. “I think we both have the mindset of a hometown place — being a home.”
Hometown Classic Pizza moved downtown in 2011 and eventually expanded into the neighboring space. The fire occurred not long after the restaurant got a facade update and new interior paint job. The business started in 1966 and has operated under multiple names.
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Hometown Classic Pizza
Currently carry-out and delivery only
1002 E. Main St., Greenfield
4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday
4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
317-462-5054
317-462-7262
hometownclassicpizzagreenfield.com
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