The Italian Deli on Blanshard has been sold after 41 years
Maurizio and Massimo Segato are down to their final week behind the counter, and the two women taking over have one rule: don't fix what ain't broken.
Italian Food Imports, the Blanshard Street deli most Victorians just call the Italian Deli, has new operators after 41 years with the same family.
The Segato brothers, Maurizio and Massimo, announced the sale on a Sunday in late July. Their parents bought the shop from its previous owner in 1985, after their father, a mechanic, kept picking up food there and heard the owner grumbling that he wanted out. The brothers took over all operations in 1995.
That's also the story they didn't want to repeat. The former owner had lost interest in the work, Massimo said, and the brothers decided to leave before they got there themselves.
The business sold quickly once it hit the market, and the sale closed two weeks before the announcement. The new owners are two women who plan to keep the paninis, the ready-made meals, and the shelves of pasta and olive oil exactly as they are.
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