Good news, Italian food lovers. Glorioso’s is back! The institutional Italian grocer (1011 E. Brady St.), which had closed in October due to a fire on the second floor of the building, reopened – to collective joy – on Jan. 7.
The Oct. 3 fire was in the IT/server room above the store. As a result, all the food and bev in the shop had to be thrown out, owner Carmine Presta explains. Then Glorioso’s restoration company came in and cleaned, in shifts, for 28 days straight, he says.
“Everything else in the whole store got emptied out and taken offsite to clean, and then inside the store, [the restoration company] cleaned,” says Presta. “Pretty much the whole store was touched by a human hand.” But they weren’t done – because they needed to rebuild what the fire destroyed, they had to submit drawings for City approval. It was only last week, he says, that they were able to start receiving inventory and restock the store.
Have they been slammed since re-opening the doors? Heaven’s, yes. “You shoulda seen everybody walking in” says Presta. “A lot of the regulars, they know my employees, my management. So they’re coming in, some of them are crying and hugging my employees.”
Soon the very-much-missed shop will host a grand reopening and celebration to mark Glorioso’s 80th Anniversary. Next week, the shop will share the details and dates on their Facebook page.
Presta, whose family purchased the store in 2024 from the Glorioso family, says the customer support – many offered to help clean the store, he says – shows the power of the Glorioso’s brand. “We love the family values that Michael [Glorioso] and his father had,” he says. The Presta family has operated an Italian grocery business in Illinois since 1977.
All I know is that I’m running over to our Brady Street Italian institution as soon as possible for dried pasta (because, oh my God, the selection!), prosciutto (or maybe hot gabagool?), a hunk of lasagna (theirs is so good), some olives and a couple cannolis – because who can resist cannoli?
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
I may also pick up some Glorioso’s Christmas sausage, which I have never eaten. But anything that would make the never-long-enough winter holidays not feel officially over is welcome in my book. Presta says they plan to sell the popular seasonal sausage for the month of January – since folks missed out on shopping at Glorioso’s over the holidays.
Hours: Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
