BOLZANO. It will not open after the holidays. The shutter will remain lowered. What many call the fruit and vegetable “boutique”, that small “jewelry shop” made of selected vegetables and products, the fruit and vegetable shop in Via Orazio capable of satisfying even the desires of the most demanding customers, is closing its business.
Edoardo “Edi” Nicolussi, who created and managed this business for almost sixty years, had been contemplating closing it for some time, but it seemed impossible to everyone that, for that creation of his which opened in October 1966, the time had really come to lower the shutter forever.
Edi, laivesotto since his birth, will soon turn 84, but to those who met him until a few days ago in the shop he seemed like a young man. “But now I’m almost fed up,” he says. Every single day he dedicated extraordinary care to his profession. Offering products of the highest quality was a winning choice. «But people have changed, the way they buy, look for and want quality food has also changed». Many small neighborhood businesses have had to give way to large-scale distribution. Over these long years, Edi Nicolussi has been able to find and propose an alternative: a shop where courtesy and a relationship with customers based on mutual trust were combined with an offering that was nothing short of impeccable. Edi repeated several times: “I know that many say that my prices are high, but if after many years of business I am still here selling fruit and vegetables it means that they are finding something that isn’t available elsewhere.”
And it won’t be easy for anyone to find such a place from now on. There will also be those who cry, and not because they cut the spectacular onions they purchased. Yes, because whoever entered that small shop had the absolute certainty that, when purchasing any fruit or vegetable, they were taking home something checked leaf by leaf. Suppliers know this well too. Only the best really entered the shop… and after having passed Edi’s scrupulous examination. Otherwise he would go back. For Edoardo Nicolussi, “the quality of raw materials is always the absolute priority”. Which was followed by truly incredible courtesy, elegance, advice, experience and professional ability.
However, the time has come for Edi to enjoy some well-deserved rest. For him and for his wife Hilde who married him in 1970 and who has always supported him in all these years. Together they have also produced many delights in their greenhouse at home for decades. At dawn and as soon as they finished work in the shop they tirelessly dedicated themselves to the vegetable garden, the greenhouse and the countryside. With obsessive care they went every day to select the best vegetables to offer to customers, they grew quality fruit and collected aromatic plants. Edi Nicolussi’s was a professional journey made of passion, intelligence and dedication. Looking from now on at the small shop in Via Orazio, which exuded an air of tradition, you will feel a bit of nostalgia. Certainly the memory of a competence, a quality, a desire to satisfy its customers that become rarer every day.