Established 1946

Pete DeLaurenti in the 1950s. Courtesy of the Pike Place Market PDA.

Each morning, the aroma of espresso gently wafts from the open door of DeLaurenti Food & Wine, welcoming visitors and workers to Pike Place Market. Established in 1946, DeLaurenti continues to provide the city with specialty foods and wines from the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

A Market Love Story

In the late 1920s, Peter “Pete” DeLaurenti was a young man who had recently returned to the Seattle area from Torino, Italy. He began delivering bread at Pike Place Market. While making his rounds, he met a young woman named Mamie-Marie Mustelo, who worked in her mother’s small grocery in the lower levels of the public market. In 1930, Pete and Mamie-Marie married. In 1946, after the end of World War II, the couple purchased the grocery from Mamie-Marie’s mother and christened the new store “Pete’s Italian Grocery.” Shortly after, DeLaurenti began reshaping the store into a specialty food market. “Pete DeLaurenti was selling gourmet food years before its time,” Sol Amon, the “codfather” of Pure Food Fish (established in 1911), told the Seattle Times after DeLaurenti died in 1996. “He was selling it thirty or forty years ago – things like feta and kasseri cheese, olive oils, special bread.”

A Family Business

In 1972, DeLaurenti’s son, Louie, took the reins and moved the store to a prominent location at the corner of First Avenue and Pike Street where it thrives today. Situated at the grand entrance of the Market, the shop offers a warm welcome to visitors from around the world. DeLaurenti became one of the first places in the city to offer cheese cut to order, pizza by the slice and espresso—becoming an essential stop for locals. Three generations of the DeLaurenti family managed the store until 2001, when Louie received a tempting offer from three local residents (and customers) who had spent the previous decade working for the first Italian coffee roasting company in Seattle. “I was just 65,” recalled Louie. “I decided I’d never [again] have the opportunity they were offering.”

The holiday season at DeLaurenti

Carrying on Tradition

Since taking ownership nearly two decades ago, Pat McCarthy, Matt Snyder and Nate Plutko discovered many parallels between working in an Italian coffee shop and serving customers behind the counter at DeLaurenti. The act of pouring a caffe latte into a hand-painted ceramic cup is very akin to slicing and wrapping a perfect half-pound of Prosciutto di Parma. Both involve the two most important parts of the store: the best quality products and the highest level of service. Their dedication to people, fine products and impeccable service has made DeLaurenti a favorite stop for local shoppers, market workers and visitors alike. From the famous fishmongers, to newcomers looking for Pacific Northwest specialties, and locals who arrive early on Fridays and Saturdays to stock up for the week, DeLaurenti remains a hub for delicious food in the midst of the bustling Pike Place Market.