Where it Started...
It began in 1932. But the history started in the mid-1920s when
two teenagers--Nicola (Nick) and Pasquale (Patsy) D’agostino set out from their home in L'Aquila, Italy to seek their fortunes in the United States. By 1931 they had worked as pushcart peddlers, mill workers and apprentice butchers - anything to earn a buck.
One year later, at the depth of the Great Depression, Nick and Patsy pooled their meager resources and opened a small grocery store on Lexington Ave. and 83rd Street in Manhattan.
It was small, but unlike anything New York had seen. It was designed to serve the carriage trade… the mansion-like apartments on Park Ave… and so, the brothers stocked their store with groceries and baked goods under a single roof. They also provided home delivery for phoned-in orders by Upper East Side residents-and their staff.
The brothers added a fresh meat section-and trained butchers-- to the store-very unusual for what was rapidly becoming a full service market along with other items. D’agostino was now a full service supermarket. And it's just what the neighborhood wanted... and needed.
The stellar reputation of D’agostino was-and remains based on three simple principles.
Quality, Service and Innovation.
It was no wonder that as D’agostino opened more stores in New York; it became "New York's Grocer." No surprise that movies and television shows shot on location in New York frequently use D’agostino stores or "DAG BAGS" to help impart a sense of New York City realism. Will met Grace in a D’agostino - on the TV show, that is.
Today, the chain is still owned and operated by the D’Agostino family. Nicholas D’Agostino, Jr. is the chairman and CEO and his son, Nicholas D’Agostino, III is the President and COO. They guarantee all their products and provide the superior customer service whether it is in their stores or online grocery shopping service.
Community Involvement
D’Agostino tradition of being part of the community, being the neighborhood store, extends to its involvement with New York based charities and cultural activities. From substantial annual contributions made by customers and the chain to City Meals on Wheels, to the food donated to City Harvest, to providing items for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, to participating in New York City Opera's “Opera For All” program, the D’Agostino Family and the associates all firmly believe that helping our city isn't just good business, its part of the fiber of the corporation. That's seen too, during New York's unusual crisis situations: during blackouts and blizzards, D’Agostino stores have always remained opened… and associates are always there to help customers. On September 12, 2001, every “D’Agostino was open, to lend a helping hand, to talk with neighbors and to provide staples during a fearful time.
Nicholas D’Agostino, SR
Nicholas D’Agostino, Sr., founder of the famous New York supermarket chain bearing his name, was highly regarded an innovative and dynamic businessman, a philanthropist and lay religious leader in the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. D’Agostino was the 1982 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, an honor shared with other self-made leaders of business and industry and three former Presidents of the United States.. In the rags-to-riches tradition that the award recognizes, he was born June 8, 1910 in Bugnara, a picturesque, but poor hamlet in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzi region of Italy. While still in his early teens he emigrated to New York where he worked as a pushcart peddler and mill laborer.
At age 15, he left a $24-a-week job to become a butcher's helper at a weekly wage of only $18, in order to learn the butcher's trade. In 1932, he became a progenitor of the modern supermarket when he and his brother, Pasquale (Patsy), combined their savings and expertise to open a new kind of grocery store - the first in New York City to offer produce, baked goods, dairy products and grocery staples under one roof. This was a revolutionary ideas at the time.
Their one small service store flourished. More stores were added and the product line expanded to include meat and other items. Today D’Agostino Supermarkets is a chain of 23 stores located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and suburban Westchester County. Since it's beginning, the company has worked hard to earn the honored title of "New York's Grocer."
A devout Roman Catholic, Nicholas D’Agostino was Knight of Malta and, until his last illness, served as Vice Chairman of the Cardinal's Committee for Catholic Charities. He was a founder and lifelong support of the famous Boy's Towns and Girl's Towns of Italy, a network of model communities providing sustenance, education and sponsorship to orphaned and abandoned children of any race or nationality. He was also a patron of the arts and cultural affairs in New York City.
Although he became a multi-millionaire in his adopted country, "Nick" D’Agostino never forgot the hard years of his youth and was widely known as a generous humanitarian. Mr. D’Agostino died at the age of 86 at his home in Manhasset, Long Island, after suffering a long illness.
Nicholas D’Agostino, JR
Nicholas D’Agostino, Jr., Chairman of D’Agostino Supermarkets, Inc., learned the supermarket business from the shelves up. As a teenager, he worked as a stock clerk at a rival Food Fair and that's where he first learned that "the customer is always right and his or her needs must be met if you are to be successful." They are maxims that still guide him today.
Providing quality products and superior customer service are Nicholas D'Agositno's major concerns as he leads his family's company. "I want D’Agostino to be a supermarket in the truest sense of the word," he says, "serving the needs of all or our customers. I hope we stand for honesty, quality and fairness.
Nicholas began working for D’Agostino Supermarkets in 1960 after graduating from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Science degree in English. Over the years, he held virtually every job that exists in a modern supermarket operation - from Cashier to Department Manager, Store Manager, Dairy and Frozen Food Buyer, District Manager and Director and Vice President of Store Operations. Mr. D’Agostino assumed the Presidency of the company in 1978 and became Chief Executive Officer in 1982. He was elected Chairman in September 1986.
Because he has an overriding concern for the welfare of his community, Mr. D’Agostino is deeply involved with many organizations in the New York metropolitan area. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Citymeals-on-Wheels, Madison Square Boys and Girls Club, and the Catholic Medical Mission Board. Under his leadership the company donates thousands of pounds of products to feed the hungry through City Harvest. Mr. D’Agostino believes strongly in giving back to the community and does so through contributions to hundreds of local school, religious and community groups that do so much to enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods near their stores.
Nicholas D’Agostino III
Nick D’Agostino 3rd is the FOURTH generation to be in the grocery business! But it was his grandfather, Nick, and great uncle, Patsy, who incorporated the D’Agostino Market 75 years ago, making Nick 3rd the third generation D’Agostino to run the supermarket chain since incorporation.
Nick runs the 18 store D’Agostino chain with 15 stores in Manhattan, and 3 in Westchester County. The first store was at 83rd and Lexington Ave in Manhattan-- and there is still a D’Agostino store at that location. Nick is a real product of New York… he grew up in Manhattan—near one of the stores, and now lives in Westchester—near one of the stores!
Because D’Agostino prides itself on being a neighborhood store ... in fact, it really is New York's neighborhood supermarket, working with the community and doing charitable works has been part of the family... and the chain for its 75 years in business. "My grandfather was a Knight of Malta and supported the Boys Towns of Italy and other Italian charities... and supported many charities in his home town of L'Aquila, Italy. My father and the chain supported the United Way and several other charities and now and know in semi-retirement, my dad heads up the Catholic Medical Mission Bureau. I’m on the board of the MS Society and of course the chain supports City Meals on Wheels, City Harvest, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and we partner with NY City Opera, charities that all affect our community and our neighborhoods. And our nearly 1,000 associates in the stores and our customers join us in supporting these charities… each year, we raise thousands and thousands of dollars for City Meals during what’s known as the Round Up, where customers round up to an even dollar figure at the cashier and City Meals receives the change. We donate sneakers to the Juvenile Diabetes foundation and our associates join in the walks to raise funds.
“The sense of giving that I grew up with is very much a part of our company’s culture… and our employees help to pass it along as well to our customers. The customers know and appreciate it and get involved.”
D’Agostino’s place in NYC is quite special. As a neighborhood supermarket in a time when new supermarkets and new ways of shopping are entering the NY market, Nick explains that the only way for D’Agostino to compete is by providing the highest level of service, the best quality products and the nutrition and dietary information that customers so desire.
Service, quality and a true interest in the customer… it’s why D’Agostino has been the supermarket of distinction in NY for all these years… and why it’s still the neighborhood store for the biggest neighborhood in the world.. New York.
D’Agostino’s New York Products
Our roots are in New York City, with our first store in the upper eastside. So, our products reflect our heritage. We carry the finest New York brands: Zaro’s Bakery, Rao’s, Patsy’s, New York Cheesecake, Lidia’s, Blue Ridge Farms.
We will continue to add more New York brands as well as even adding local farm produce and cheeses.
