Merante Brothers Italian-American Market reopens after condemnation due to building collapse
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Monday was a rebirth for a local family-owned market after it was forced to close following the collapse of a building next door.
Now, the doors of Merante Brothers Italian-American Market were once again wide open and welcoming customers back.
It was just months ago when Merante Brothers was condemned due to city violations because of a neighboring building that had collapsed, but Monday marked a different story.
Owner Marco Merante gave KDKA-TV a tour of the newly-remodled business. Whether it was beans, breadcrumbs, Italian cookies, Italian pasta, fried peppers, olive oil, or red wine vinegar, all of it could be found at the family-owned market on Marion Street in Pittsburgh's Uptown neighborhood.
Merante's was forced to close in August after the collapse of the building next door. The collapse caused the roof of the market to cave in, leaving the building uninhabitable and costing Merante more than a thousand dollars in unusable products.
"It wasn't some random event; everyone knew that the building was in bad shape, so as soon as it fell down, we had to put back on our work boots, had to reconstruct the whole second, had to clean up here and do some remodeling," Merante said.
The business opened in 1962 and loyal customers who live close by were thrilled to have it back.
"There's nothing that builds community like sausage and Fontanella cheese, and you know, just the history of this place," said David Roth, a customer.
"I just want to put that all in the past, what happened, happened," Merante said. "I'm glad the building is still intact, I'm glad we could save it. This is a lot of history here, a lot of family heritage and lineage grew up in this store."
Merante now hopes that all of his customers find their way back.
