Just as so many stories of American family business begin, ours opens with Ellis Island as the picturesque background. Two immigrant brothers with third-grade educations from the southern Italian region of Abruzzo crossed into America with their siblings and very few belongings. Danny and Joe Di Bruno came to America searching for streets paved with gold. What they found were the cobbled streets of Philadelphia (roughly the same thing). What Danny and Joe may have lacked in formal education and wealth, they made up for with work ethic. The two brothers were innovative entrepreneurs who found great opportunity in the food business.
Ninth Street and the Italian Market became a home and an incubator for Danny and Joe as they set out to open a small grocery in the heart of the Italian population of Philadelphia. It was 1939, the same year that Gone with the Wind won Best Picture. Relying on their gut instincts, the brothers immediately began to celebrate “great people” by treating every customer like family. Customers still come into our stores today with stories of how their mother or grandmother went to Danny and Joe’s shop with her last five dollars and left with two heaping bags of groceries. Danny and Joe planted roots in the neighborhood, and they flourished.