Supermarkets. Restaurants. Stores. These are just a few of the many kinds of family-owned businesses that influence Westchester’s economic ecosystem and play a key role in how we live, work, and shop. And better still, family businesses boast a lengthy history of caring about their neighbors, according to Dr. Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester. (The organization has presented an annual Family Business Success Award to a worthy company for the past 25 years.) “They’re often the ones that sponsor their local Little League team or soccer club,” she points out. “They go the extra mile because they’re truly part of these communities.” Running a family business requires equal parts hustle and heart, coupled with commitment to continued collaboration and conversation. Five family-run retailers that have stood the test of time reflect on legacy and share what works.
Clearly Dilineating Between Personal and Professional Is Essential.
When you push a shopping cart through any of the 12 DeCicco & Sons supermarkets in Westchester, Putnam, and most recently, Greenwich, Connecticut, the experience just feels special.
“My father used to say it plain and simple: Be kind and good to the customers.”
—CHRIS DECICCO
Yes, shoppers flock here for upscale, premium items alongside everyday staples. But there’s something else: A feeling of family, which is because now-retired John DeCicco, Sr.—who founded the first store in the Bronx in 1973—is often on site, bagging groceries and happily mingling with customers on the checkout line. Serving customers has always been job one for this family.
“My father used to say it plain and simple: ‘Be kind and good to the customers, listen to them, and provide great products and services,’” says partner Chris DeCicco. “We’ve never changed that mentality.”
In 1984, the first Westchester store opened in Pelham; by 2005, they had expanded to five and become known as DeCicco & Sons when John and his brother Joe brought in sons John Jr. and Chris and Joe Jr., respectively. Other family members who have rolled up their sleeves: Chris’ mother, Marie DeCicco, who is very involved in bakery production, and Luisa DeCicco, CEO John Jr.’s wife, who heads up human resources.
“When you grow up in the business, you absorb a work ethic and a set of standards that aren’t written in any manual,” Chris says. “When those values are passed down authentically, the business has a real foundation.”
The one caveat: In a family business, it’s critical to keep personal and professional lives apart. “The moment those lines blur is when things can get fragile,” he says. “We learned early that the business only stays strong when everyone remembers what they’re there to do. And just because you love each other doesn’t mean everything will work itself out.”
“It takes real discipline to keep family relationships separate,” Chris says. “When you’re at Sunday dinner, you’re brothers. When you’re on the floor on Monday morning, someone has to be in charge, and everyone has to respect that.”
Honoring Elders Is Good For Business.
There’s something delightfully old-fashioned about Charles Department Store, which stocks classic and contemporary men’s and women’s clothing and footwear, plus housewares with a focus on all things cooking. The shop, founded by Charles Raneri over a century ago, first opened in Mount Kisco before he moved the store to Bedford Hills and finally to Katonah in 1939, where it has endured on the town’s quaint main drag.
Ask Kelly Raneri, Charles’ great granddaughter, who has been running the store since 2021; she’ll tell you that her father, Dave, and uncle, Jim, who ran the store until she took over, are loving advisors. And, when they call to check in, she never feels like they’re checking up on her. “They just love the store, they miss it and they’re excited to see it’s doing well,” says Raneri; she worked side by side with her father and uncle for 12 years to absorb every aspect of the business firsthand, learning how to be a sharp buyer, lead a team, and treat customers well.
Ultimately, Raneri’s goal is to stay the course, both in terms of its signature mix of varied inventory and the nostalgic feel in the tin-ceilinged space.
“I’m always sensitive to the fact that a lot of people are sentimental about this place,” she says. “At the same time, we have so many new customers coming through my doors every single day and it’s really important for them to know that I’m the fourth-generation owner. People really connect with that history and love being in a place that has been cared for over so many years.”
Marrying Into the Business Creates a Special Connection.
When Taka Andrews married Brooke McKiernan, he had no idea that one day he would join her in running Miller’s, the storied family business her great grandfather Joseph opened in Harlem before her grandfather (Joseph’s son Irving) relocated it to Mamaroneck in 1948.
The store prospered, with Irv’s daughter Diane and her husband John taking over in the 1970s and essentially building it into the institution it is today, stocked with toys, clothes, shoes, bikes, and outdoor play equipment. When Diane and John shared retirement plans, Brooke and Taka, who were living in California, jumped at the chance to move East and learn the business; they took the reins in 2006. “Brooke grew up in the store and had a strong emotional connection to the place,” says Taka.
What two things make this family business tick? For these fourth-generation owners—and parents of four kids ages 10 to 18—it’s remembering that their customers truly care.
“Almost every day someone mentions how long they’ve been a Miller’s customer,” Taka says. “They often remark how they appreciate that we’re still here and how important we are to the community. We love when someone comes in and says, ‘I bought my grandkids their first bikes here in 1960something,’” Taka says. “That’s our privilege.”
Deferring to Brooke, since she grew up in the business, is critical, too. “I try to leave my ego in my car when I come to work,” Andrews says. “I’ll never know as much about this business as my wife does. She lived and breathed it, and the fact is she understands this place without thinking about it.”
Thoughtful Planning for Next-Gen Leadership Is Key.
Stew Leonard’s inimitable zigzagging store design and Clover, the animatronic cow that greets customers in the dairy section, are synonymous with the eight-store empire, whose origin story traces back over a century. Charles Leo Leonard started Clover Farms Dairy in the 1920s and his son Stew opened the first store in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1969. “We have oversized signage in all of our dairy departments that tells my great grandfather’s story and gives a timeline of our store’s history,” says Andrew Hollis, Stew Senior’s grandson and Yonkers store director. “We feel like customers love knowing the story of the different generations of the family working here and how we got to where we are today. It instills a bit of trust that we know what we’re doing and that we genuinely care.”
In terms of continuity, consistent family member ascension has served the Leonards and customers well. Currently, six first cousins (out of 13) in the third generation play key roles in operations, marketing, and human resources. They all worked their way up, starting with stints at the cash register or stocking produce, eventually working in every department on the floor. In addition, each was required to work at another company for three years and then interview for an open position before joining the business full-time.
Stew Leonard dreamed of opening a retail dairy store where children could come watch milk being bottled.
“Working outside [of Stew Leonard’s] for a few years was implemented in my generation because the previous gen came straight in,” Hollis says. “They wanted us to experience different styles perspectives before we joined the family business.”
As for adding a fourth generation to the Stew Leonard’s C-suite, Hollis says he’d love it if one day his kids considered it, though admittedly it’s a little early to think about it as all three are under seven. “That was my grandfather’s goal,” he says. “He wanted to get as much family in the business as possible because we have this extra gear from growing up in grocery. That’s something very special and it’s integral here.”
“If a problem comes up, we all want our voices heard.”
—KATHERINE DECICCO
Working Collaboratively Makes All the Difference.
Every decision that’s made at Walter’s Hot Dogs connects directly to the legacy of the family patriarch, Walter Warrington, who immigrated from Italy when he was seven years old and later opened a roadside stand on Boston Post Road in 1919. Nine years later, he bought property on Palmer Avenue in Mamaroneck and built the iconic copper-roofed Chinese pagoda that houses the business to this day (and became a National Historic Landmark in 2010).
“Walter built this business and worked with my grandfather Gene, my mother’s father, who owned and operated it for 65 years into his 90s,” says Katharine DeCicco, who grew up working the grills in the summer. In 2014, she came to the business full-time, along with her brother, Gene-Christian Baca. They work alongside their sister, Christine Sand, and mother, Christine Warrington. (Gene died in 2017.)
The fourth generation will forever continue to serve Walter’s exclusive blend of beef, pork and veal hotdogs, split down the middle and grilled in a secret sauce with a signature mustard. However, DeCicco, who is married to Joe DeCicco, Jr., and her family have continued expanding the business, including starting a food truck business in 2015; they now have five trucks available for private events or catering on movie and TV sets. They opened a White Plains location in 2018 and stock Walter’s products at retail and online via Goldbelly.
No matter what happens day-to-day, DeCicco says the key is the deep respect the family members have for each other. “If a problem comes up, we all want our voices heard,” she says. “We gather all the opinions and then make a decision. It might not be your way, but we always try to come to a resolution.”
The ultimate sweet spot that makes Walter’s endure: Always paying homage to the generations that came before, including using Gene’s homemade ice cream recipe for milkshakes or making Italian ices the way he did and blending them with Sprite, lemonade, or seltzer. “I cherish every memory I have when we were together in the stand,” DeCicco says. “We think of him in everything we do. He truly was the heart and soul of Walter’s.”
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