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Twin
Mastroieni brothers carry on a family tradition
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
In an age of big corporations, mass production and impersonal sales,
the Mastroieni & Sons Fine Furniture Store in Montgomeryville offers
an alternative business model — a Catholic, family-owned and family-run
business that focuses on customer service.
“We want to do right by everyone,” said Nicholas Mastroieni,
a partner in the business with his twin brother, Larry Mastroieni Jr.
Both are parishioners of St. Jude Parish in Chalfont.
They do business the way their father did business. And he did business
the way his own father had done business since opening the store in
the mid 1920s on the former “furniture row” in North Philadelphia.
That means focusing on the importance of building relationships, Larry
Mastroieni said.
“We know our clients and we know their homes,” added Nancy
Mastroieni, Nicholas’ wife, who has been working alongside her
husband for 20 years. “The personal aspect is the key. It’s
a comfort for those making a big investment.”
And because they trust the Mastroienis, customers keep coming back.
The store was opened by their grandfather, Nicholas Mastroieni, who
came to the United States from Sicily when he was 17 years old. After
serving in the U.S. Army and obtaining his college education, he started
working as a door-to-door salesman specializing in jewelry. He soon
realized that his clients needed furniture more than rings and watches.
By 1926, he had bought his first store and married his wife, Josephine.
Their only son, Larry Mastroieni Sr., later took over the family business.
Larry Sr. graduated from Roman Catholic High School for Boys and Villanova
University in 1950. That year, he was drafted into military service
in the Korean War. After two years, he returned and married his late
wife, Lorraine. Soon, he was running his father’s business. The
store moved from North Philadelphia to Montgomeryville in 1974.
Over the years, Larry Sr. and his wife had three sons and three daughters.
The oldest boys, his twin sons, began working with their father in 1976,
and when the time came, they took it over officially. That was in 1992.
“We grew up in the business, and being the oldest, we hung around
Dad more than the other children,” said Larry Mastroieni Jr. “We
were hands-on, early on. We saw what went on and we decided we liked
it.”
Family loyalty has kept them there, Nicholas Mastroieni added. “I
graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a degree in economics,
but I chose to stay here to carry on the family tradition,” he
said.
The furniture store has become an icon in the area, and the Mastroienis
are well known in the surrounding parish communities. They are happy
to donate furniture for fundraisers and silent auctions when they can
to help the local Catholic community, Nicholas said.
Meanwhile, Larry Sr. still helps out on weekends. For his part, he’s
pleased by his twin sons’ efforts.
“I was gratified that they wanted to take it over,” he said.
“And with their new ideas, they’ve improved on it.”
Mastroieni & Sons Fine Furniture Store is located at 1113 Bethlehem
Pike, Montgomeryville, 18936. For information, call 215-643-6373.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith can be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.