Rob Prisco, previous owner of Prisco’s Family Market in Aurora, said he remembers bagging potatoes every Saturday with his grandfather Tony Prisco, who founded the store in 1926.
That’s when the Priscos, an Italian immigrant family, still lived above the store on Lake Street, and the family still fit in one room for Sunday dinners, he said.
The Lake Street store was a childhood landmark for much of the fourth generation of Priscos. Andy Guzauskas, Rob’s nephew and the store’s current manager, said he remembers as a kindergartner playing in the store’s basement while his grandmother made large paper grocery signs. Guzauskas’ cousin Marisa Boedewig remembers skipping school to play games with her grandmother in the store’s back room.
By the time the store moved to West Prairie Street in 1996, that fourth generation worked at the store, including Boedewig, who met her now-husband in a calculated coincidence that involved a potato and some teenage bravery.
Now, as the store celebrates its 100th year in business, Boedewig has children who call her aunt the “cookie lady” at the store, and Guzauskas marks the fourth generation of Priscos to run the business, which he took over in 2016. Meanwhile, Rob Prisco said the store uses the same Italian sausage recipe it has for years.
The Prisco family, along with over 100 people that included longtime employees, customers and even local and state officials, came to Prisco’s Family Market Friday to celebrate the store’s centennial anniversary.
Even the rain and cold did not deter the crowd that seemed to all know each other by name.
“I look out here at the crowd, and I see all these wonderful familiar faces, and I’m struck by the thought that none of this would be possible without you, without our wonderful customers. It brings a lump to my throat,” said Rob Prisco Friday.
Prisco emphasized how hard it is for independent grocery stores to last this long, especially in today’s conditions.
The store’s centennial celebrations come at a particularly tough time for independent grocery stores in Illinois. Federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are dwindling grocery store customers while overall costs are rising rapidly. Just this month, a study by the Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences reported that independent grocery stores are averaging a slim 1% net profit margin.
Guzauskas said rising costs are especially challenging for his family grocery store.
He said that while individual electric bills might be going up $40 a month, the store’s monthly bill went up $4,000 a month recently. Even equipment quadrupled in price after the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. That made it hard to recover after storms damaged the freezers and roof of the store last year, he said.
He’s also navigated the store’s largest wholesaler, Central Grocers Cooperative, going belly up the year he took on the store in 2016.
“I’m trying to figure out how to navigate all that and still keep food affordable for people,” he said.
When asked how he maintains this balancing act, Guzauskas at first jokingly said “magic,” but he said there really is no secret.
“It’s coming in every day, being with your employees, seeing what needs to be done, and making it happen, working with vendors and going to conferences and learning new things,” he said.
He said being part of larger organizations such as the National Grocers Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association has helped him find innovative solutions to problems.
He also said that for first time this year, the store is applying for financial assistance through state grants to renovate their refrigerated and frozen sections.
But a grocery store is more than putting food on shelves, Guzauskas said.
“It’s being here for our customers … it’s about helping people solve problems,” he said. “It’s to educate and help people understand to the best of their ability what they’re putting in their body. That’s the mission of the independent grocer.”
That mission – knowing people’s names, helping them individually, is why many of the customers at the store’s anniversary celebration Friday said they loved the store. Customers, even Boedewig’s husband, Kevin, said they love the store because it gives them a community hub, a place to run into their neighbors and see each other more often.
Kevin Boedewig said that even if he goes to the store to pick up a few things, it becomes “social hour” and he’s home from the store hours later. The employees also still walk the customers and their groceries to their car, he said.
“You’re relaxed,” he said. “Our kids come in and they get gelato or they’ll go see her aunt in the kitchen, and she’ll bring cookies out.”
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Aurora residents Charles and Karen Lorence, who said they’ve been customers of Prisco’s Family Market for over 45 years, said they appreciate the store for its people. Karen said every Christmas, the store orders duck liver pate for her for the holidays.
“They know our names, and that makes me feel special,” she said.
Meanwhile, Charles said, “If you want to know something about things, go to Prisco’s. They know everything about what they have in the store.”
Illinois State Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, said she shops at the store because people know each other, and the owners know the obstacles that the community faces.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch said one of the core ingredients as to why the store has succeeded is that the owners see themselves as members of the community. He said he’s heard from employees who say they feel like they’re part of the Prisco family.
Kevin Boedewig, who worked at the store and said some of his coworkers from over 20 years ago still do, said the employees are wide ranging. He said a lot of high school students work their first job at Prisco’s, along with university students, but also his own longtime coworkers stick around because they love it, he said.
“They still preach, it’s customer first, take the groceries out, even if they say no,” he said. “Don’t accept tips, you’re there to make them happy, and that’s what from day one your training is.”
It’s this employee culture that Guzauskas grew up in, and he said taught him the importance of community and accepting each other.
“We all have different things happening in our lives, and that’s OK,” he said. “Let’s treat each other well and have a good time. We’re going to take care of each other and provide you food.”
“That’s how I approach it every day to keep me going,” he said.