JUST A GROCER'S SON

Book excerpt: Just a Grocer’s Son chronicles the life of an Italian American family which settled in a small twentieth century American industrial community to establish a neighborhood grocery store. This small neighborhood grocery store existed for more than a century throughout three generations of families. During those one hundred years, the author, his brothers, and their father were grocer’s sons, working in the store business as children. This book details the trials and tribulations of one family of Italian immigrants and their sacrifices and struggles through Prohibition, the Depression, World War II, and the reality of the gradual disappearance of the small neighborhood grocery store. The book records the memories of Danny, the son of Italian parents, Abe and Minnie Frizzi, who joined his parents in the grocery business in 1948. His story continues through the memories of his own son, Danny Jr., who from an early age worked with his grandfather Abe and father Danny throughout grade school, high school, and college. Living in a small community where more than forty small neighborhood grocery stores once existed, this family business was the last to survive. Just a Grocer’s Son tells a story of immigrants, of family, and of small neighborhoods throughout the twentieth century. This is a uniquely American story about the sad disappearance of small neighborhood grocery stores.