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Grocer Is Neighborhood Staple

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 17, 2007

Updated: 12/17/2007 12:14 am

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - When Kathy Makely was looking for a house to replace her apartment in Town 'N Country, she told her husband they had to look for a home nearby.

The reason: to remain close to Cacciatore Bros., a neighborhood grocer with a 111-year history.

"It just gives me so much pleasure to see people get what they want," said Phillip Cacciatore, owner of the market at 5610 Hanley Road.

Cacciatore Bros. was founded in Ybor City in 1896 by Giuseppi Cacciatore, an immigrant from Sicily. He named the market Cacciatore Bros. because he intended to partner with his brother, Angelo. But Angelo preferred Sicily to Tampa and Giuseppi moved back to Sicily, handing the market over to Angelo's sons.

Some sons came and went, but one, Filippo Cacciatore, remained and in 1964 turned Cacciatore Bros. over to his son, Phillip. About 1967, the market moved to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and in 1977 Phillip opened another one on Hanley Road. Today, that market is the only Cacciatore Bros. left, but it is going strong, providing specialty foods hard to find in mainstream supermarkets.

"I've loved this since I was a kid," Cacciatore said. "I wouldn't do anything else. It's in my blood, I guess."

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