Mazzucas to serve, insult for last time at year's end
By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
llewellyn.stephen@dailygleaner.com
Published Saturday November 17th, 2007
Appeared on page A3
A beloved downtown retail landmark in Fredericton is closing its doors for good after more than eight decades in business.
The last day for Mazzuca's variety store is scheduled for Dec. 31.
"This is our 84th year in business and I have been here for 67 years of those 84," said co-owner John Mazzuca on Friday.
"We have been thinking about this for the last year or two," said the 72-year-old businessman. "It was a hard choice but we feel this is the time to do it."
He runs the store on York Street with his brother Gus.
"I have a hole in my heart and a hole in my stomach when I think about this," said Gus, 68. "I don't know. It is going to be hard. It really is."
The two brothers took the reins of the store when their father passed away.
Any organization that wants to sell tickets in the city works with the Mazzucas. They have hobnobbed with political, business and sports stars.
"We've known a lot of people," said John.
They are most famous for their gruff attitude with their customers and for having dog biscuits on hand for anyone walking their dog on York Street.
Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna once said that whenever he got a swelled head from meeting with Toronto power brokers, all he had to do was drop into the store.
The brothers say they treat their customers the way they treat each other.
"We give them our piece of mind and they take it and laugh about it," said Gus.
He said what he will miss the most is the store's Saturday morning coffee club and the banter with their friends and customers.
"We have many, many good friends and many good customers and friendship is a wonderful thing," said John. "We have a good time and laugh and joke."
But he said working 14 hours a day is getting hard as they get older.
"We get up at 5:30 in the morning and open up at seven," he said. "It's just at the point where it's getting the best of you. My health could be better than it is. It is one of those things."
He said customers who heard they are closing are saying they don't believe it.
"They are going to have to believe it," he said.
Gus said the business is still profitable.
He said the building has been sold but not the business.
"The business is going to close and that is it," he said. "It has been 84 years under one family and we just feel that is good enough to keep it that way."
The brothers said after the store closes, they will have time to play more golf and travel.
"Then we will just have to wait and see what happens," said Gus. "I know I am not going to be able to sit around the house and do nothing all day."
Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside said Gus called him and warned him before going public about the closure.
"I was quite speechless when Gus called me," he said. "You really expect Mazzuca's to be there forever."
He described the Mazzuca brothers as a couple of unique characters.
"They have been around for a long, long time and provided a lot of great service to the community and a lot of great entertainment to the community as well," said Woodside.
"It's one of the few places that you can go to in town and be insulted and feel good about it.
"The city will not be the same with the departure of these two guys."
Hal Pennell, a sales and rentals clerk at Tony's Music Box on Queen Street, is one of the regulars at Mazzuca's Saturday morning coffee club.
He was in shock Friday after hearing the news.
"I am very surprised," said Pennell. "It's going to be something that we are going to miss terribly. We have been accustomed to Mazzuca's just being there for so long as a place to drop in and suffer the abuse from John and Gus."
He said he first started visiting the store in the fall of 1966, the year he arrived from Cape Breton. He quickly learned Mazzuca's was the place to go for newspapers or smokes or tickets for events.
"Cry," he replied, when asked what he was going to do now on instead of going to Mazzuca's for coffee.
"Saturday morning I will have to stay home and have a coffee and think of better times. It's going to be quite a change."