Italian Centre opens its third location
European food retailer sets sights on Calgary expansion
The west end finally has an Italian Centre Shop of its own.
“We always listen to our customers and they all said they wanted a location on the west end,” said owner Teresa Spinelli.
The specialty European food retailer opened the doors to its third outlet at 170th Street and 90th Avenue on Monday.
Many of the company’s westend fans have been eagerly anticipating its arrival.
Franz Becker, a 25-year customer of the Little Italy location, is thrilled to have a location in his neighbourhood.
“It’s very exciting,” Becker said. “I think it is going to be very successful around here.”
Spinelli wants the newest location to retain the charm of the older outlets.
“I hope it’s like the other stores,” said Spinelli, whose late father Frank Spinelli founded the business.
“My focus is, as we grow we still keep the same small family feeling,” she said. “I still want to know all my employees by their first names and our customers; that’s our challenge with this store.”
By the afternoon, over 300 patrons had walked through the doors for the soft opening. The official grand opening is not until October, but as of Monday, all sections including bakery, café and deli are open for business.
The Little Italy location opened in 1959 on the corner of 95th Street and 108th Avenue, expanding little by little as the demand for Italian imports increased in the city.
In 2006, Spinelli launched the Italian Centre Shop South on 51st Avenue near 105th Street in a store that was intended to open as a fruit and vegetable market.
Unlike those locations, Spinelli said, this time they had the opportunity to make their mark — building a store to the size and scale they wanted.
“This one here is a really good footprint for us,” she said. “We made it to what we thought would work for us.”
The 15,000-square-foot location is the former site of furniture retailer Ethan Allen, which moved to 105th Avenue and 109th Street.
Despite the disappointment of having to lease the space instead of buying, Spinelli said she had a gut feeling the space was the right choice.
A beacon for immigrants, foodies and those with a love for European foods, Spinelli said that she views her store as a gathering place.
During the Monday lunch hour, between bites of pizza and sandwiches, friends and family stopped by to offer their congratulations to Spinelli.
“The Italian Centre at all of our locations has been a meeting place,” she said. “I love it when two people come in and just bump into each other,” she said.
Spinelli said her next step is to expand the company into Calgary.
“There’s a lot of Italian stores in Calgary, but again they are missing what we have — whatever that is,” she said. “We have a lot of customers from Calgary who come to Edmonton and shop at our stores.
Spinelli and Italian Centre Shop general manager Anthony DeSantis said they just need to find a location.
“If we find the right spot and the right deal, we’ll do it,” DeSantis said.