Twin Shoppe

Old south Philly social life pulsated by corners which served as surrogate Italian Piazzi to the Italians of the Diaspora. Often these corners were anchored by a store. Few corner stores had the staying power and social pull of the Twin Card and Sweet Shoppe at 10th and Tasker streets. It had been a card and malt shop from the 1930’s owned by a guy named Oliveri – then in 1950 twins Joe and Carmen Carozza from 8th and Tasker bought it. The twins (and they were Identical) were WWII veterans who after the war worked in a cigar shop in center city Philadelphia where they knew my Grandfather Franceso and his sons my uncles Denny and Joe. Hard working were these Sicilian lads- in a time when hard work alone could guarantee success. They pooled their resources and took over the shop at 10th and Tasker rechristening it the Twin Card and Sweet Shoppe. It was a Malt Shop- Card Shop- Gift Shop. Cigar Shop- and convenience store. Opened 6 then 7 days a week 10-11!! Way before WAWA, 7-11, CVS . Staffed by the twins and their wives- Shirley , Carmen’s wife (Chamberlain could have used her at Munich) and Viola, Joe’s wife -as well as a gang of kids who worked in the shop-like myself and my dear buddy Robert Giangiordano (1958-1987) . The store was the center of the social scene of 10th and Tasker- sharing the intersection with Joe’s bar, Sisco’s grocery, and Vito’s ice cream and card shop- yes two shops selling the same stuff across from each other. Priceless was the treasure I acquired from my days at the twin Shop. It was an Education in South Philadelphia. The Damon Runyan personae- from mobsters and their wives to Sceets to Bella and Mary to Al and Bob and Ace the barber , Flash and well you name it, if they lived in South Philly in the 50’s-70’s they all came to the Twin Shoppe. It was a river of Mezzogiorno barges.. Everyone had an angle everyone had a story…I met people like old Roberto Zinni from my Grandfather’s village in Italy and old times fill of stories of the South Philly in the 1910’s and 20’s. The store was also an incredible business success- for a while the largest card seller south of South Street. But by the 1980’s , the twins were being surpassed by mega stores and new marketing strategies they could never understand. Business slowed , old loyal customers died, often Frannie Carmen and Joe’s sister would greet me with the famous south Philly line…Guess who died. .Joe died in 1998 and Carmen sold the business in 2001. Now a younger man has taken it over- focusing on Cigars and rebuilding the parts that were falling down. And I am happy to say- the Twin Shoppe continues. But oh what ghosts must haunt that building-more on these ghost later.