Mike Sale in front of the store he has owned with his brother Allegrino for 35 years
Mike Sale, sister Anna Moccia and two of their workers
The store's original butcher block and sausage grinder
Sad news for Carroll Gardens. At the end of April, Good Food, the Italian Superette will be closing its doors for the final time. For 85 years, the storefront at 431 Court Street between 3rd and 4th Place has supplied the neighborhood with fresh mozzarella, Italian sausages, olives and other Italian delicacies. Besides the deli counter and meat counter, Good Food also carried everything from canned goods to cleaning products and everything in between.The business first belonged to the Bruno brothers, relatives of NY City Office Of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Bruno. The Brunos ran the business until one of the brothers was attacked while on his way to make a deposit at a local bank.
That's when the Sale Brothers, Mike and Allegrino, bought the supermarket and the building. Together, they have managed the store for the last 35 years. They would gladly continued, but just recently, representatives of Investors Bank have made Mike and Allegrino an offer the brothers could not refuse. So, the New Jersey-based bank will be opening a branch at this location, and the neighborhood will lose one of the last remaining Italian food stores in the neighborhood.
I stopped by yesterday to speak with Mike and his sister Anna Moccia., who has been working with her brothers at the store for many years. Mike told me that the store will close at the end of April. Though he acknowledges that he will now be able to retire, he had tears in his eyes when he told me that he will miss all his customers. "We have known some of them for a very long time and I know that it will be hard for all the older Italians in the neighborhood. We accepted phone orders and made home deliveries for the seniors who could not come to the store themselves any more. To illustrate how he and his brother went out of their way to accommodate some of their customers, he told me about a recent call from an elderly Italian lady who wanted one eggplant delivered to her house. "She wanted to buy just one, but she asked if we could send a few, so that she could chose the best one."
Asked if he complied, Mike smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "What could I do?"
Mike also took me to the back and pointed out a butcher block on which the Italian sausages are made daily. "This is still the original block from the Bruno brothers. They left it when we took over the store. We will give it back to the Bruno family after we close."
Already, the store's shelves are looking empty and the sign above the entrance has been removed. It will soon be replaced by a bright neon sign of yet another bank.
Good Food and the Sale family will be missed in the neighborhood. With them goes another piece of Carroll Gardens history. How very sad.
