Mrs. DeLallo

Madeleine DeLallo founded the store and the company with her husband George back in the 1950s. With the charm and spirit that grew DeLallo from a single itinerant “store in a truck” to its present size, Mrs. DeLallo describes her typical day. After turning 85, she cut back her time at the store to only 8 hours a day!

In the next segment, Mrs. DeLallo tells us about the early years at the store, and their traveling store-on-wheels.

“Every day was an interesting day,” Mrs. DeLallo says about running the DeLallo store and raising her children at the same time. With wonderful old photos, she tells us how the children did their part and learned to do everything that needed to be done in the business. And they learned to love it!

The family continues to be an important part of DeLallo, but other people who joined the company have become as good as family too. In the final segment of her interview, Mrs. DeLallo tells the story of how Jimmy, the man she calls “The Big Big Boss,” became part of the DeLallo team.

With her characteristic good humor, Mrs. DeLallo tells the story of a boy named Jimmy who used to come to the store with his mom, and who then started selling produce by the road while he was still a kid. Mr. DeLallo invited him to come sell in front of the store, and then when winter came, they asked him in where it was warm. Fifty years later, Mrs. DeLallo says warmly, “He’s with us.” Get a glimpse of the man she affectionately calls “The Chairman of the Board.”

The spirit, good humor and close relationships that made DeLallo grow strong are still a very important part of the company. To hear more from the family, watch Anthony’s video interview. Anthony is Mrs. DeLallo’s grandson, and the latest generation to fall in love with the business.

Mrs. DeLallo and her husband George started their business in an International truck, the “store on wheels.” Mr. DeLallo drove the truck out to the remote mining towns of southwestern Pennsylvania to sell authentic Italian food to the immigrant miners’ families. Mrs. DeLallo describes how happy their customers were to see George’s truck arriving in town. Meanwhile, they’d found a good spot for their store, and Madeleine stayed there each day and ran it.

Naturally, their children grew up in that store, as Mrs. DeLallo explains in the next segment.