Future could hold new possibilities for McGinnis Sisters brand
You may not have heard the last of the McGinnis Sisters.
“What we’re doing right now is that we’re closing the stores as they currently are,” Jennifer Daurora, director of operations for McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores, said about the locations in Brentwood and Monroeville.
“But we’re not ruling out some other type of format in the future or some opportunities, because we know that Pittsburgh supports our family brand and so many of the wonderful products we carry,” she asserted. “So we don’t know what the future holds, but we’re open to the possibilities.”
McGinnis Market was located on Custer Avenue in Baldwin Borough.
Daurora’s mother is Peters Township resident Bonnie Vello, a daughter of Elwood and Rosella McGinnis, who started the business after Elwood returned from serving in World War II as an officer in the Army Air Forces.
“He came back and decided that he was going to strike out on his own,” Daurora said, “and began what you probably would have remembered at the time as those really small corner mom-and-pop stores.”
The original store, called the McGinnis Food Center, opened just before Christmas in 1946 on Custer Avenue in Baldwin Borough, near the family home.
Rosella McGinnis
“It was a traditional deli,” Daurora explained. “We had fresh produce and meats, and many of my grandmother’s recipes for salads and things. And then over the years, they just began to expand a little bit more and expand a little bit more.”
That included opening a store in Monroeville in the late 1970s, next to the 140-acre office campus of Westinghouse Electric Co.
“That helped us change from a mom-and-pop store and to carry more specialty items,” Daurora said, “People from Westinghouse would be traveling, and they would come home and ask for certain things. That helped us change the way we were doing business into what we have become known for all these years.”
Her mother joined sisters Sharon McGinnis Young, a former Upper St. Clair resident, and Noreen McGinnis Campbell in taking ownership of the company in 1981. Rosella McGinnis passed away in 2002 and her husband the following year.
Elwood McGinnis and family
Along with the Monroeville store and the one on Route 51 in Brentwood, which opened in 1986, McGinnis Sisters also operated a location in Adams Township, Butler County, from 2008-17.
The company in late February announced the closing of the remaining stores, with a subsequent liquidation sale drawing an influx of customers.
“It’s been wonderful to see a lot of faces that we’ve known over the decades, and our customers have been very gracious and thankful,” Daurora said. “It’s almost like they’re part of the family, too. So we’ve had laughs. We’ve had tears. But we’re really just appreciative of the support of the community.”