As Brooklyn celebrates Small Business Saturday , one Sheepshead Bay mainstay is marking a milestone few neighborhood shops reach. Bernie’s Bait and Tackle — an anchor of Emmons Avenue’s working waterfront — turns 70 this year, celebrating seven decades of serving generations of local anglers, boat captains and families looking to connect with the shoreline.

“The store has been here 70 years,” Mike Giordano, co-owner of Bernie’s Bait and Tackle, told Brooklyn Paper. The shop was first opened in 1955 by founder Bernie Schwartz — “hence the name Bernie’s,” Giordano said.

Nearly 30 years later, in 1983, it was purchased by Ralph and Jimmy Giordano. Today, ownership has transitioned again within the family, with Michael and Vincent Giordano running the shop.

“So it’s basically been i

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