(Centennial era photo by Bob Grossbaum)

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Please acknowledge, above, this Brana family

                      

duo of Mario and John (father and son), the

              

driving force behind the “Greene County Im-

 

porting Corp.,” the official name of their one-

 

time family business. The original store was

 

at 92 Cortlandt St.; there, it was first under

 

the management of Victor Masselli (who then

 

sold it to the Branas and the Gerlancs). The

 

store then relocated to 44 Beekman Ave., the

 

iconic location pictured above, where it is still

 

in business--but, presumably, no longer

 

benefiting from the associated work ethic

 

of any of these early families.

 

 

 

After Mr. Gerlanc's untimely death, Mario

 

Brana and family were called on to become

 

the store's sole owner-operator. Among its

 

grocery items, Italian imports were

 

especially favored by many customers.

 

Besides standard groceries and the various

 

items available for sale in its delicatessen,

 

Greene County also offered its own brand

 

of frozen products, even marketing some

 

frozen-food items out-of-state. The Branas

 

also made a celebrated combination

 

“wedge” (that's the sandwich referred to

 

more often elsewhere as a "submarine").

 

 

 

Their version reportedly included an ad-

 

ditional meat, one not found in most of

 

the other local franchises–mortadella.

 

A slightly-sweet Italian sausage–some-

 

times studded with pistachio nuts–

 

mortadella is, otherwise, 100% pork

 

(finely-ground, but including small fat

 

cubes.) However, starting in 1967, the

 

export of Italian mortadella to here was

 

banned for over 30 years–for health rea-

 

sons that seemed valid enough, to some--

 

at the time. But--after the mid-1960s--what-

 

ever that extra slice of meat was--in those

 

Greene County combos-–it sure was a good

 

mortadella-substitute!

 

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