FROM A TINY FARM STAND TO A NORTHERN NEW JERSEY INSTITUTION, THIS THIRD GENERATION FAMILY MARKET HAS BEEN NURTURING NEIGHBORS FOR 70 YEARS

BY AMANDA McCOY • PHOTOS BY ROBERT NUZZIE

On any given day of the week, Corrado’s Market is buzzing with life. A cheery butcher greets customers at the meat counter, creamy mozzarella is on display in the dairy section, and a Corrado family member can be spotted recommending a sauce or talking to customers about their kids or summer vacation plans.

The business was born as a neighborhood farmstand, and although Corrado’s Market has since grown into a mini New Jersey empire across six neighborhoods and 16 storefronts, it’s still what founder, James Corrado, envisioned in the 1950s a family owned and operated neighborhood staple.

“That’s the secret,” explained James Corrado, a third generation co-owner who was named after the market’s founder. “Something my grandfather said a long time ago; if the family is strong and together, the business will be fine, but family always comes first. That goes for our own, to customers’ families, and to those of our employees.”’

The tradition began with an open air stall in Paterson. The founding Corrado, a U.S. Navy veteran, took up truck driving after returning home from World War II. His father owned a small produce stand, and it wasn’t long before Corrado’s enterprising spirit took over and he began buying and selling items to make extra cash. In the early 1950s, he gave his budding venture a small home.

VJ SPREAD

“It was a roof with no walls and was filled with whatever he bought and sold that day,” said the co-owner. “My grandfather was constantly hustling. After he got married and had children, he started expanding. He put up walls, my grandmother was on site taking money for products, and they really built a business within the community.”
At the time, the Paterson area had a large population of Italian immigrants, and Corrado began sourcing items in high demand among neighbors. He soon started selling higher end products like meats and cheeses, and in 1975 opened Corrado’s Family Affair in Clifton. It was a full service supermarket, selling everything from fresh produce and plants to dairy and meats. There were always seasonal offerings flowers in the spring, Christmas trees in the winter, and in the fall wine grapes were brought in from California.

“My grandfather loved winemaking,” said Corrado. “At the time, the area had a lot of European immigrants who all made wine. It was, and still is, a family tradition.”

The Clifton location has come a long way in 45 years. Now spanning 30 acres, its property includes a hardware and garden center, a pet market, a wine and beer making center, a wholesale store, even a gas station. There are Corrado’s locations in Denville, Fairfield, Hawthorne, North Arlington, and Wayne, and another is slated to open in Brick this summer. While the supermarkets stock the requisite kitchen staples and traditional grocery items, the family prides itself on its unique offerings for different cuisines, from Italian to Mediterranean to Latin. Customers who have moved away often return to shop for hard to find items like pepper paste from Peru, a rare tea, or a particular type of dried bean.

After 70 years of continuous operation, the business is still very much devoted to its bloodline.
“We don’t really do titles around here,” laughed Corrado. “My title is just ‘family member.’” And there are 12 more members who are full time employees, to be exact. His father and two uncles sit at the helm, while he and his brother and several cousins manage day to day operations. Each family member has a specialty. There’s one in charge of sourcing meats, another the cheeses, yet another the technology. As for the younger James, he has two primary responsibilities: to source fresh local produce and to carry on the legacy of his grandfather’s favorite pastime making wine.

“We were always great partners,” he said, “and I learned winemaking from him. That’s something I get to do now that I love. I like to experiment…like to try different grape varieties and techniques. People look to me for help and advice, so the way I look at it is, the more I try to learn about different things, the more I can share with customers.”

A little over 20 years ago, after the founding Corrado passed away, the family decided to host a winemaking competition in his honor. They were floored by the community response 100 entries that first year. Two decades later, the competition has become one of the community’s most anticipated events, the latest with 600 entries and nearly 1,500 attendees.

“This is our tribute to him, to celebrate his favorite time of the year by bringing people together to make wine,” said Corrado. “We have judges that come in from the American Wine Society and sommeliers from local restaurants. There’s food and live music, and people bring in their homemade wine. We have people carrying on an old tradition and others getting into it for the first time.”

Custom gift baskets have also become a staple. From cheese with crackers to smoked meats to artisan olive oils from Italy, the possibilities are endless. “We can custom make any basket to the customer’s imagination,” the co-owner said. “If they like hard cheese, we’ll make one filled with cheeses from all over the world. You can come in and say, ‘Hey, my uncle likes weird canned shed,’ and we’ll make a basket for him,” adding that orders for these come in from all over the country, because, as he explained, long standing customers have become close to them over the years, and that doesn’t change even after they move away.

“In the early years,” he said, “the slogan was, ‘There is a difference.’ Our name has always been about family, and all these years later that’s what it’s still about. You can always and a Corrado in the store. No matter what location you go to, you can ask to speak to an owner and and one of us. We are the size of a traditional supermarket, but you still get that neighborhood feel.”

Corrado’s Market
Locations in Clifton, Brick, Denville, Fairfield, North Arlington,
Hawthorne, and Wayne / corradosmarket.com