Papa's Pizza Closing After 40 Years in Business

Customers piled into this week, looking for one last taste of their favorite pie at the local pizzeria.

After 40 years at the Oak Forest location, Papa's is closing its doors — but shouldn't be gone for long.

"The name Papa's will still be around," said owner Sam Tuhaimer, who . "But we're not generating enough business to stay here. And the taxes are way too high. So we'll probably take a break and come back later."

Tuhaimer isn't ruling out the idea of another location in Oak Forest or perhaps nearby Tinley Park. But the Orland Park resident and his wife, Nehu, said they can't afford to stay open in the current location.

High taxes are hurting businesses in Oak Forest "big, big time," Sam Tuhaimer said.

During the business' last week of operation, pizza lovers poured into the restaurant after they learned on Facebook that the pizzeria was closing. Nehu Tahaimer said the place was packed on Thursday, the restaurant's official last day.

"All of our customers who have been coming for years came [Thursday]," she said.

Friday saw a much smaller crowd as the Tuhaimer family and their employees basically only made pizzas to get rid of the last ingredients in the kitchen.

Country Club Hills Alderman Vincent Lockett stopped by Papa's on Friday, calling their pizza "probably the best pizza in the Chicagoland area."

"The service is great and the people here are as nice as the pizza,"Lockett said.

The building at 16040 Cicero Ave. will soon reopen as a remodeled pizza restaurant and be renamed Dream Pizzeria under new ownership, Tuhaimer said. He has the contact information for a lot of his customers and plans to keep them updated on where and when Papa's will reopen.

"Anywhere we go, we're going to let people know," he said.

Like Oak Forest Patch on Facebook to stay informed on the business community!