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The Beginning of a New Life –as told by Gina to the Terrace Bay Schreiber News
The founder of local Costa’s food business, Dominic Costa, first came toCanadain 1913. He worked for a time in Fort William, and then moved to Schreiber to work on the CPR. In 1928, he went back to Italy to marry Carmella, who we all know as “Gramma Costa”. Dominic returned to Schreiber alone to make a home for his wife and daughter and begin a new life. His daughter’s name was Luigina, or “Gina” as she was called by her parents. She was born in Siderno, Italy. Three years later, in July of 1934, Carmella and Gina were finally reunited with Dominic in Schreiber. They were overwhelmed at the train station by people bearing gifts.
In the beginning, they were lonely and life was hard as they could not speak much English. Fortunately, they were surrounded by very good neighbours who helped them along. In a short time, they learned to speak the new language.
Their first winter inCanadawas exciting. Snow was a new experience. Gina ran outside and filled a bowl with snow because she thought it must be ice cream. When she was old enough, she attendedSchreiberPublic School.HolyAngelsCatholicSchoolwas started in the Guild Hall next to the Catholic Church and she transferred there. She stayed in school until Grade 7.
In the summer of 1942, Dominic decided to start a small business. With the encouragement of their friends in the south side, they started construction at224 Columbia Street. It was a two story building with a small confectionary department in the front portion of the building. At the back, were a kitchen and a bedroom.
The Grand Opening of Costa’s Foodateria took place on September 8, 1942. The first customers were the McCouan families, Mrs. Annie Niemi, the Bolan family, Mrs. Pelto, Kathy Whitton, Winnie Campbell, Mrs. Greengrass and The Duncan family. Owning a store was exciting! The total sales of opening day was $7.66. WOW!
Gina remembered telling people at school what a great sales day they had. Dominic could not afford to quit his job on the CPR so he continued working there. Carmella was very capable and enjoyed managing the store on her own. She worked very hard. This tiny lady had a big beautiful smile for everyone. At first the store was quite small and they sold pop, bread, and a few groceries. Soon customers began requesting meat, produce and more grocery items so they expanded their lines. Fresh produce was brought in on the train. Dominic taught himself, through trial and error, to cut meat. This was all done by hand every morning then he would head out to his job on the CPR. If they ran out of meat, Carmella would do the cutting. Gina was the delivery girl for Costa’s. In the summer, she used a bicycle or an old mail wagon. In the winter she hauled groceries on a 7 foot toboggan. She wasn’t so fond of snow then! Gina remembers one of the deliveries she used to make to the CPR boarding houses. About 25 Japanese men lived there and had to be fed. The mail wagon would be heavily loaded and Gina would head out. She met her father at the CPR roundhouse and he would take her over to the bunkhouse and help her unload. Gina will never forget one really bad winter storm. She was making a delivery to the bunkhouse with a toboggan. She was trudging up the subway with her load of groceries when a delivery sleigh passed her. She hopped aboard and enjoyed a free ride on the horse-drawn sleigh with her toboggan in tow. The driver noticed the extra load, cracked his whip, and ordered her off. It didn’t matter to Gina. She was at the top of the hill by then!
In 1949, Costa’s bought their first delivery truck. John McKevitt was their first delivery boy. Gina was not sad to give up that job. Much of the work in the store was back breaking. For many years they had to meet trains and trucks to get their supplies. The underpass was so low that trucks could not drive to the store. Several times a year, they ordered products by the box car. Piece by piece, the load was moved to a small delivery truck and transferred from one side of the rails to the other. Fortunately for Costa’s, reeve Bill D’Arcy did everything in his power to find a solution to this problem. In 1955, a new underpass was built and the south end of Schreiber, including Costa’s became more accessible. Costa’s also shipped groceries out with the CPR to other communities like Jackfish, Coldwell,HeronBay, Mobert, Rossport, and Cavers. Families of the CPR gangs and Crawley McCracken gangs lived in these communities.
As the Costa business grew, so did the family. Carmella and Dominic had five children. Gina, Rosa, Teresa, Tony and Albert. Gina married Joe Commisso in 1950. Joe moved to Schreiber and trained as a meat cutter under Dominic. Gina juggled children and work as Carmella did before her. Gina remembers doing the “Specials” flyer when she was in the hospital having a baby! Rosa married and moved to Mississauga with her husband, Tony. Together they raised two sons. Teresa married Cosimo Commisso (Joe’s brother). Both were very involved in the business in Schreiber, Cosimo, the meat shop and Teresa, with her natural talent for breads and sweets, continues to this day in the bakeshop. Tony, like all the children, began work at a very young age, working within the store and delivering. Albert, who worked in the meat department for a number of his adult years, moved his family toWinnipegin 1975.
In 1953, the family and business suffered a blow with the death of Dominic after a lengthy illness. The family rallied to the support of Carmella and carried on the business as Dominic would have wanted. Not long after, Joe and Gina were approached about establishing a store inTerraceBay. In 1960, Joe Commisso and Tony Costa formed a partnership and opened Costa’s Foodmarket in TerraceBay. Another dream came true for the business in 1962. Carmella and her family negotiated a deal for the property across the street from the original small store and construction on a new and larger store began on the site of the present day, Costa’s Foodateria.
Tony Costa, and his wife, Luigina, focus on Costa’s Foodmarket Terrace Bay with Tony Commisso looking after the buying and the computer end of the business. Teresa and son Marc, Gina and daughters Sandra and Gerry work in the Schreiber store.
“Pappa Joe” Commisso has finally started to take some time off but he visits the stores regularly to keep in touch with old friends and customers and to see that the business is running smoothly.
Carmella Costa passed away on February 25, 2003. She was a dedicated mother, grandmother, and businesswoman who worked in the business until she was almost 95 years old. You could always count on “Gramma Costa” to hold your baby while you shopped. Carmella’s smile never wavered from the first days in the business at 224 Columbia Street until her last day in the Schreiber store. Her careful nurturing of her family and her business has had wonderful results. The dream of two Italian immigrants, Dominic and Carmella has resulted in a successful business and four generations who continue to provide exceptional service to communities along the shore of Lake Superior.
