A grocer on the West Side of Buffalo is pasting a scrap book of sorts on some of his store's walls with something other than wallpaper: his customers.
Guercio & Sons, a family-owned Italian grocery store on 250 Grant Street, serves thousands of retail customers and a "few hundred" wholesale customers, said Louis Guercio, secretary of Guercio & Sons.
When a wholesale customer, mostly restaurants, is reviewed by the Gusto or other press, someone at the market cuts the story out and tapes it to a wall near the back of the market.
"There's a ton of them. There's walls and walls full," said Guercio.
The story's are packed tightly together and look like a collage. More than just wallpaper, however, the vertical scrap book is a testament to just how many restaurants the market impacts.
"The question is, what don't we buy from Guercio's," said Mike Christiano, owner of the Left Bank, a West Side restaurant.
Christiano has been a customer of Guercio & Sons for "16 years, 3 months, and 5 days," he said.
He buys from the market because the family is great, but they also have the best produce, the best delivery, and they are local, he said.
"They take good care of us," said Christian Difiglia, owner of Prime 490, another West Side restaurant.
Difiglia, a 14-year customer of Guercio & Sons agrees the market has great delivery. If an order is placed in the morning, the order will arrive in the same day, said Difiglia. Prime 490 buys produce and other specialty sauces from the market.
Despite the market's small appearance from the outside, it has separate produce and deli departments with a large warehouse attached to the back of the store.
"A lot of people drive by, they never come in the store," said Guercio. "They think it’s a small little store over here, that we don’t do much business. Once they do stop in, they can't believe how big it is inside."
Big indeed. The market has about 45 employees between part-time and full-time staff, said Guercio.
"It's quite a payroll," he said.
The warehouse stores a greater variety of items than what you can find at a Tops or Wegmans according to Guercio.
"We have over 4,500 to 5,000 items," said Guercio. They [wholesale customers] buy everything. You name it, they buy it."
Variety is a reason Guercio and Sons stay in business because their wholesale customers often look for something big supermarkets do not have.
"We have a huge selection of olive oils, 10 percent, 25 percent, 100 percent, extra virgin olive oils, you name it," said Guercio. "You won't find our selection anywhere, no matter where you go. You go to Tops or Wegmans, all you see is six, seven, eight variety and that’s it. Here we got probably 40, [to] 50 at least."
Another reason Guercio & Sons is able to compete and do well amongst the big supermarkets? They do not have to advertise.
"Word of mouth is our best source for getting our customers in here," said Guercio. "Somebody else tells them about it and hears good things about it, it brings them in. So we don't spend the money on advertising, it keeps our prices down."
More reasons? Guercio & Sons is known for the quality and freshness of their deli meats and produce, said Guercio. A sign near on one of the walls says bananas are kept in an air conditioned room which helps to keep the freshness of the product.
The ailing economy has not slowed the market down either.
"That's one good thing about the economy being the way it is, people have to eat," said Guercio. "People still go out. Restaurants are doing good. Everybody still has to eat, so that’s one good thing about being in this industry."
In 2004, the market was added to an Empire Zone Program, said Guercio. Empire zones give businesses benefits such as tax credits or exemptions to sales tax, property tax, or utility savings as well as other benefits. Creating new jobs and making investments in the area businesses are located in are just two of the requirements needed to be met in order to qualify for those benefits, according to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Web site. The program helps keep the market's prices lower, has helped the business expand, and is one of the reasons it has not moved from Grant Street.
Four other Guercio bothers run the market too. Salvatore, the eldest, is president, John is warehouse foreman, Charles is vice president, and Thomas Sr. is treasurer. Santina Guercio, a sister, is a cashier. The market was established in 1961 by parents Vincent and Nancy Guercio and has remained on Grant Street ever since.