In the early 2000s, Carl DelPrete and his team weren’t thinking about scaling.
He and his brother, Phillip, were running a successful produce distribution business and took over a failing small market in East Meadow in 1998, which is when they started dreaming about building something a little more special.
Soon, they did, especially when they transitioned what was called East Meadow Farms into the first Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace in 2001, with the two brothers and partner Tom Barresi steering the vision.
“We were really just having fun and just wanted to provide the best customer experience the industry had to offer,” said DelPrete, now the CEO of the rapidly expanding Uncle Giuseppe’s, with their 12th store on the way and locations in New York and New Jersey.
“We made a conscious decision to create an Italian-centric market, reminiscent of the experience we had as kids where we grew up — the Little Italys of the world, Brooklyn and the Bronx.”
But in this case, all of the Italian neighborhood’s offerings — think bakery, butcher, cheese monger, deli, etc. — would be contained under one roof, with outstanding quality, homemade products and excellent customer service.
“We weren’t focusing on growth at the time, just how we could perfect the experience,” he said.
Growth mode
But growth happened because Uncle Giuseppe’s has become a customer favorite and staple in people’s daily lives.
“We were fortunate to bring in a great old-school Italian chef early on who developed many of the recipes we still use today,” DelPrete said. “We just kept refining, kept improving.”
Things really took off in 2005 with the Smithtown store, Uncle Giuseppe’s second location, which introduced many of the experiential touches the marketplace is now known for.
Think of handcrafted food items made daily in a setting with painted ceilings, Roman columns and scenery straight out of Italy on the walls. Store-made chocolate, fresh mozzarella cheese, pasta (and more) tantalize the senses as soon as you walk through the front doors.
“Rather than write a business plan [for Smithtown], we said, let’s just keep having fun, but just do it in a bigger way,” DelPrete said.
That “bigger way” is only continuing to get bigger. Over recent years, new stores have opened in the 40,000–55,000 square foot range.
A new 40,000-square-foot location is set to open in Bohemia later this year, followed by a 56,000-square-foot store in Greenvale at Wheatley Plaza in early 2026, then a Levittown location later in 2026.
“There are many [new stores] in the pipeline,” DelPrete promised. “And every time we build a store, we reimagine it.
“The experience gets better every time we open them.”
Welcome to the show
According to DelPrete, the idea has always been to offer more than just groceries.
Each Uncle Giuseppe’s location is built to wow sight, smell, and taste alike.
Shoppers are greeted with towering displays, bursts of color and the warm scent of something simmering nearby.
Both classic and modern Italian music are playing throughout the store, either live or flowing through carefully placed speakers. Pasta and fresh mozzarella are made behind glass, and employees hand out samples with the enthusiasm of a Sunday dinner host.
“You walk in and see the candy section, the chocolate fountain,” he said. “You hear the music. You smell garlic and fresh bread. And then you taste … “
It’s a sensory experience — part market, part show.
There’s a rhythm, a carefully choreographed energy that feels less like grocery shopping and more like a cultural event.
“It’s about making food shopping an experience, and people love that,” DelPrete said. “I believe that mom-and-pop retailers, brick and mortar, are not dying — they just need to become experiential. If you’re going into the store, you want to feel that you’re getting more than just the product.
“Customer service is as important to the Uncle Giuseppe’s experience as are the great food offerings made on-premise every single day.”
Coming soon
The Bohemia location will be about 40,000 square feet and packed with all the hallmarks of a full Uncle G’s experience.
The café, deli, in-store pizzeria and a large organic and natural grocery section will all be there.
The Greenvale store, measuring a whopping 56,000 square feet, will have added room for expanded spaces. It will be among the chain’s most extensive yet.
Even the layouts are evolving.
For instance, Uncle G’s cafés will soon be located near the front of the stores.
“So when you walk in, you can order a cappuccino and do your shopping with your cappuccino,” DelPrete said. “All our espresso, frozen, and specialty seasonal drinks rival any coffee shop or coffee market out there.”
Warm, scratch-made bread is already rising in many of Uncle G’s bakeries, and every new or refreshed store is getting the proper ovens, too.
“Initially, all our bread came from Brooklyn and the Bronx,” he said. “We’re now adding an entire selection of artisanal bread that we’re baking in-store, along with our fresh pasta now being made from specialty Italian flour that’s healthier and cleaner than the kinds of pasta found elsewhere in the U.S.”
Then there are the private-label Uncle G brand items — most, if not all, are from Italy.
“Together, we’ve probably spent a year’s worth of days in Italy, trying to find new ideas and new products,” DelPrete said.
“We’re constantly looking for innovation.”
National aspirations
Reflecting on the market’s modest beginnings in East Meadow, where the original Uncle Giuseppe’s still stands at just 7,800 square feet, DelPrete said he sometimes has to take a moment to appreciate how far they’ve come and the joy the stores have brought to generations of customers.
“It’s really something that we think we can continue to expand on, and bring into many other states as well, because we get requests all the time,” he said. “People just can’t seem to find anything like this in other parts of the country.”
Not bad for what began as a little produce shop.
All photos of Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace were taken by Nick Esposito at the company’s Melville location for GLI, or were provided by Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace/John Muggenborg.
